Crisis of confidence in vaccination and the role of social media.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this paper is to review the current situation of vaccine hesitancy, with emphasis on children with neurological disorders, and to present the role social media plays in this situation. METHODS: A literature review using the following search words was performed: vaccine∗ OR immune∗ AND hesitancy OR confidence AND social media. RESULTS: The search retrieved 277 results; 17 duplicates and 234 irrelevant articles were excluded. 43 articles were fully analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: An increasing number of parents are becoming vaccine hesitant. Their motives are complex and nuanced and involve factors related to vaccine safety and efficiency, perceived personal risks and benefits, socio-demographic and psychological characteristics. Attitudes toward vaccination differ in adolescents from their parents. In children with neurological disorders, factors involved in vaccination decision included physicians' knowledge of neurological diseases and parents' concerns that vaccination would exacerbate the chronic disorder. Unfortunately, the current pandemic is associated with an increase in vaccine hesitancy and brought forward unique determinants. The social media platforms can be a tool for the anti-vaccine movement to spread misinformation, but it can also be valued as a way for promoting health and pro-vaccine information.

Tackling Disinformation: EU Regulation of the Digital Space

This paper2 provides an overview of current responses to fake news and digital disinformation inside and outside the EU, and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. Four approaches emerge: (1) self-regulation (i.e. actions undertaken on a voluntary basis by the digital platforms);(2) co-regulation (i.e. cooperation framework between EU-level and national-level authorities, the internet platform companies, media organizations, researchers, and other stakeholders);(3) direct regulation (i.e. legal measures & sanctions);and (4) audience-centred solutions (i.e. fact-checking and media literacy). We argue in favour of the co-regulation approach, while drawing attention to some current challenges in the response against disinformation. Furthermore, we need to go beyond the understanding ofdisinformation as an information/ truth fraud, and draw additional measures to reflect the particular understanding of disinformation as a form of users engagement fraud.