John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Over Christmas I took a strong interest in vaccines, the history of vaccines and everything else. Let us consider smallpox, a disease that has ravaged mankind for millennia. We can go back as far as the death of Ramesses V, who died in 1,145 B.C. When his mummy was exhumed in the 1970s the experts could see evidence of smallpox legions on the mummified corpse. They identified him as being one of the first historical figures to have suffered from smallpox. Let us fast forward many centuries to 1795 and Edward Jenner. The British physician was one of the first people to discover vaccinia. He used the cowpox virus to inoculate against the disease. Thus, the word "vaccines" entered the English language and dictionary. Much of the work Edward Jenner did at the turn of that century led to the great strides we made in the 20th century to combat smallpox, leading to its eradication. The moral of my story, and the point I am raising, is that vaccines save lives and work.

Let us fast forward to the 1970s in Ireland. At that time, close to our home, many family members told stories of people dying from polio or tuberculosis. Many of the survivors who did not take vaccines were left with permanent damage, including brain damage, deafness and blindness. In 1985, 10,000 children were diagnosed with measles in Ireland. We then embarked on an ambitious vaccination programme and by 1987, only three years later, the figure fell from 10,000 to 205. As I said, vaccination works.

What really stops vaccination and hinders it is misinformation. Last night, there was almost a meltdown on Irish Twitter because of misinformation. Misinformation was put out to the effect that the new AstraZeneca vaccine would only have an 8% efficacy rate for those over 65 years. The only reference to 8% in the report in question was a comment that 8% of people studied were between the ages of 56 and 69 years. That is the only place where a figure of 8% was referenced.

There is great responsibility on the Minister of State, members of the Government and Members of the House to ensure the information we put out to the public is correct. The same goes for the media. There is a serious responsibility on those in the media. Some in the media have far bigger social media platforms than all of us in the Chamber would have put together. I am looking around and I mean no offence by that. These people have a responsibility to ensure the information they are putting out is correct.

There is a tendency to want to be the first person to tweet or get breaking news out and to be the first person to see that tweet or news. Mark Twain said a lie gets around the world seven times before the truth even has the chance to lace up its boots. I wish to put that point on the record. It is important for people throughout Irish society who have a platform to ensure the information they are putting out is correct.

I was looking at WhatsApp groups last night involving different friends with no interest in politics. Straight away, they commented on what others said about the vaccine and this and that. Regardless of whether we like it, what people see online is what they believe much of the time. This happens no matter how many times we say that people should take what they see online with a pinch of salt. It is simply what many people take as gospel.

My third point relates to vaccine scepticism and what we see on Facebook. I am keen to discuss this topic further, although it does not much relate to the point. Let us consider Facebook and the powerful algorithms the company uses. If I go looking for vaccine scepticism and ask whether vaccines do something to me, I get directed to a Facebook group with perhaps 1,000 people who are talking about the dangers of vaccines. It is all hogwash. Then the platform takes me down a rabbit hole. Since I am searching for these topics, Facebook and its algorithms put something else about vaccines in front of me and then something else again and so on. A person can go down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and misinformation and total BS, for want of a better term.

We have to hold social media companies to account. They cannot continue to undermine public health advice. No matter how much they say they are taking action, using their services responsibility or trying to delete material and tackle misinformation, it is not enough because misinformation is being allowed to spread like wildfire. The World Health Organization has been clear that vaccines save lives and misinformation costs lives. We must not allow misinformation to thrive online, whether through Facebook companies or journalists with a large social media following who want to get a tweet out first. They may realise they were completely wrong and were had or taken for a walk up the park with the information referenced. It is incumbent on all of us in Irish society to ensure key information about vaccines is available.People should take their information from those who have spent their lives devoted to the study of vaccines and not from what they see online.