Why 'misinformation' is the wrong label with vaccine hesitancy

Vaccine hesitancy is an increasing problem at a time when, with the emergence of the highly contagious delta variant, compliance is more important than ever. As our leaders and public health experts struggle to find the best way to promote compliance, one thing is increasingly clear — condescension or assertion, or a sleeve of numbers thrown at a fearful patient, are not techniques that are working. 

The term “misinformation” has been thrown around a lot lately by the Biden administration, and many from the president himself lashing out at Facebook for “killing people” with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, in his first formal advisory to the U.S., accusing the tech and social media companies of not doing enough to stop the spread of dangerous health misinformation, especially about COVID-19.