Infodemic.

What is the Infodemic?

Infodemic—a combination of the words “information” and “epidemic”-- is a term first coined by David Rothkpf in 20031 during the SARS epidemic and embraced by WHO in 20202 to denote the abundance of information (facts, half-truth, gossip, rumors) about a problem that makes its solution more difficult3. 

Infopedia figures prominently in disenfranchised communities, particularly those in which people of color and immigrants reside. In Latinx (including Brazilian) communities, one can quickly gauge the presence of misinformation by listening to Spanish and Portuguese talk radio shows, visiting barbershops and hair salons, attending Sunday church services, or scanning WhatsApp messages.

Misinformation affects every step of the help-seeking behavior process. It also adds uncertainty to the existing mistrust that disenfranchised communities have of government-run and medical institutions. One need not go as far back to the historic legacy of Tuskegee or La Operación in Puerto Rico to point to sources of mistrust. The presence of pervasive mistreatment and structural racism that results in toxic stress in our society bring about daily instances of mistrust. Misinformation also nudges individuals towards underestimating the seriousness of health conditions. Worst of all, as we fight against COVID-19, infopedia also augments distrust on the most effective tool for mitigating the pandemic: vaccination.

There is an urgent and essential need to counter— aggressively and assertively— misinformation, as it affects all facets of the help- seeking behavior process as noted earlier. Individuals seek help when they deem the problem as severe enough to seek help. If they decide to find help, they need to know where to find it. Once they identify a service provider, they need to trust the provider. While receiving the care, they need to maintain that trust in order to follow advice, recommendations, and regimens given by providers or public health officials.

Thus to address the challenge of vaccine hesitancy among Latinx communities, we will frame the presenting problem as follows:

An important contributor to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is misinformation in already inadequate communication channels of Latinx communities. To address this misinformation and inadequate communication channels, one needs to identify sources of misinformation and counter it with evidence- based communication strategies."