My Lords, I support this amendment to require
“the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for tackling antivaccination disinformation within one month of the Bill passing.”
The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, has picked a fascinating, current topic, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, posed some pointed questions about the quality and effectiveness of the messages. I look forward to the Minister summing up on these points.
Misinformation is not new. I remember websites being used many years ago to persuade parents to ensure that their children had their childhood vaccinations at the appropriate time, and it is paramount that the Government take a robust stance against anti-vaccination disinformation. Research from Oxford University suggests that 12% of the UK population is “strongly hesitant” about taking the vaccine, with a further 16% unsure. Together, that makes 28%, a very significant proportion of the population—over a quarter. We are putting all our efforts into stopping the spread of this virus. This means that if the 28% avoid vaccination, they will run the real and severe risk of catching the virus; not only that, we will run the risk of catching it from them, so undoing all the benefits of the programme.
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When I was doing my research, I was astounded by the volume of anti-vax propaganda undermining public trust. Social media of course carries a large amount of the extreme views. While not the majority, the minority is not insignificant, and with the Government putting their efforts into the rollout of the vaccine as their strategy for exiting the crisis, strong action is needed to counter the threat of anti-vax disinformation. The Government were quick to adopt our mobile phones as a tool to fight the virus. Are they as willing to counter this misinformation via those phones that have the Covid-19 app installed? In summing up, will the Minister tell us whether there is a plan to do this?