Using Behavioural Science for Infodemic Preparedness: The Case of Vaccination Misinformation

Abstract Worldwide at least 154 million lives were saved due to vaccination in the last five decades alone. However, the spread of vaccination mis- and disinformation remains a threat to the success of vaccinations by increasing vaccine hesitancy, that is, an individual's decision to delay or refuse available, recommended vaccinations. Moreover, changes in the global political climate threaten funding for national and international vaccination programmes and campaigns. The changes are often justified by repeating common misinformation such as the alleged link between measles vaccinations and autism. Given these global challenges and developments, it is questionable whether the global community is better prepared for a future pandemic than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this development, the scientific community has gathered knowledge and lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic that help to prepare for future outbreaks if implemented. In this presentation I will focus on three key lessons from the COVID-19 era on how to better approach vaccination misinformation and strengthen pandemic preparedness: implementation of a) effective measures to counter misinformation, b) social listening tools, and c) trainings for healthcare workers. I will introduce and discuss strength and weaknesses of effective psychological counter measures against vaccination misinformation for mass communication contexts (e.g., debunking, inoculation, rebuttal) and interpersonal communication contexts (e.g., empathetic refutational interviewing). I will highlight how all these interventions can benefit from knowledge about the target groups beliefs and attitude roots-underlying psychological needs that drive belief in vaccination misinformation. Finally, I will present insights from two research projects funded by the European Commission (Jitsuvax) and the German Federal Ministry of Health (InveSt HPV) that focus on training healthcare workers on how to approach vaccination misinformation effectively.