Comment on Fake news is now a public health hazard as a false story about flu shots goes viral on Facebook

Fake news is now a public health hazard as a false story about flu shots goes viral on Facebook

One of the most notorious fake news websites in the United States published a fake news story that the flu shot caused people to die in a flu outbreak. The fake story has since gone viral and has been copied by multiple fake news websites, including ones based in Macedonia. On January 15, the website, YourNewsWire, published a reckless piece headlined "CDC Doctor: ‘Disastrous’ Flu Shot Is Causing Deadly Flu Outbreak." The piece dubiously claimed an anonymous “CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] doctor” had said “this year’s ‘disastrous’ flu shot may be responsible for the deadly flu epidemic,” adding that this supposed doctor also said, “Some of the patients I’ve administered the flu shot to this year have died...I don’t care who you are, this scares the crap out of me.” In reality, the opposite is true: As fact-checker Snopes noted two days later, the CDC encourages Americans to get the flu shot and maintains that it is in fact safe.

 

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