Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-vaccine misinformation abroad.

The UK is deeply concerned about the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation abroad and its potential to undermine the hard-fought gains that have been made in protecting children from vaccine preventable diseases and outbreaks. We are tackling this misinformation through our strong support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. In both organisations, we work to ensure that they build trust and credibility with local communities as a core mandate.

UK support of Gavi has contributed to the safe vaccination of over 700 million children and our support to GPEI has helped reduce global cases of Wild Polio Virus by 99%. These programmes recognise the threat anti-vaccination misinformation poses to these successes and have taken active steps to address anti-vaccination movements through immunisation outreach teams and civil society groups, the first line of defence to countering false claims and misinformation. These groups monitor anti-vaccine sentiment at local levels and provide accurate information on the health benefits of immunisation. This approach provides a deeper understanding of the causes of any concerns and the populations most at risk from negative misinformation. Both organisations also support health workers with additional training to monitor and report adverse conditions and on how speak to parents about any concerns or fears.