News sites and social media users worldwide responded with a mix of excitement and frustration to the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the top health official in the U.S. due to Kennedy’s long history of promoting anti-vaccine myths and affiliation with a prominent anti-vaccine organization. Some popular posts expressed concern that Kennedy’s leadership would lead to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like polio. A U.S. congressperson posted about Kennedy’s alleged role in a measles outbreak in Samoa, which she incorrectly called a polio outbreak. Several posts supported Kennedy’s false claims about vaccine development, while others accused physicians and infectious disease experts opposed to the confirmation of “fearmongering” and insinuated that vaccines are more of a threat than the diseases they prevent.

A social media post about polio vaccines in Lakki Marwat received many responses calling for a boycott of anti-polio campaigns in the region using the hashtag #polioboycott. The boycott is in support of kidnapped factory workers in Lakki Marwat. Some posts state that peace is more important than the polio campaign. Meanwhile, residents in a village near Makli, Thatta, launched a “No water, no vaccines” boycott to protest a lack of clean water access. Several posts falsely claimed that polio vaccines are harmful and that the disease is only spreading in children who have received multiple polio drops.

On February 3, a police officer was fatally shot while guarding a group of polio workers in the Jamrud district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack occurred on the first day of Pakistan’s first national polio vaccination drive of 2025. In response to a social media post condemning the attack, some commenters criticized the World Health Organization and blamed polio workers for using a “poisonous jab” to harm children in Pakistan. In a popular social media post, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Initiative encouraged vaccination. The post received 13 million views and over 1,000 responses, including false claims that polio vaccines are poison and accusations that the polio vaccine is “unsafe” and was designed by the “United States, Britain, and Israel” to harm Muslims. Meanwhile, a video clip with over 72,000 views accused a U.S. international aid organization of corrupting Pakistani religious leaders and politicians. Although some comments supported the agency’s work in Pakistan, others repeated the claim that government workers profit from anti-polio funds.

An Indonesian social media account that previously cast doubt on the safety of polio and COVID-19 vaccines claims that Indonesia’s Ministry of Health is concealing vaccine data to hide government corruption. The user posted several times about a February 4 lawsuit hearing regarding the public disclosure of government contracts, vaccination data, and clinical trial data related to polio and COVID-19 vaccines. The health ministry argues that the requested data is confidential. Commenters on social media claim that vaccination is part of a depopulation plan and accuse the media of covering up the story. One post suggests that the government is “poisoning” its citizens, while another claims that “viruses don’t exist.”

Online conversations about global health funding continued in the wake of the U.S.’s withdrawal from WHO and cessation of foreign aid. World leaders, health officials, and aid workers warned that the cessation of funding would have devastating effects on global health, including polio eradication efforts. Some social media users claim the aid did not benefit African people, question why their countries are dependent on aid from the U.S., and accuse their leaders of misusing funds meant for public health. One user dismissed concerns about funding for anti-polio work in Afghanistan and Pakistan as “no problem” because it only affects “terror countries.”

A political commentator who ran for president during the 2021 Ugandan election claimed in a recent social media post that “so-called vaccines” are being thrown at Africans after they “survived the COVID shots,” listing malaria, mpox, and HIV vaccines. Additionally, the post accuses Bill Gates of being a eugenicist who wants to reduce the global population to one billion. The post received nearly 200 replies, with some questioning how the polio vaccine was developed and claiming that polio is made in a lab. Many responses expressed a general distrust of vaccines, claiming they are “poison” and unnecessary.

On January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from WHO, raising concerns about impacts on funding for global disease prevention, pandemic preparedness, and polio eradication. Several social media posts from East and West African countries discussed how the withdrawal may impact the continent. Many posts suggested that this is a wake-up call for African nations to be less dependent on international aid. While some posts expressed concern about how low-income nations will be affected, other users praised the withdrawal. Posts called WHO “the greatest enemy to man,” corrupt, and “satanic.” Claims also circulated that all vaccines are dangerous and unnecessary.

On January 22, Pakistan confirmed its first polio case of 2025 in Dera Ismail Khan. Half of the cases recorded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year were in the DI Khan district. News coverage of the case highlights the country’s failure to eliminate polio “despite spending billions of dollars” to do so. Many social media users responded to the news by accusing the government of profiting from polio, claiming that the disease will never be eliminated as long as the country receives polio funding. Some posts list polio eradication alongside government corruption and terrorism as threats to Pakistan. Others claim Pakistanis are being targeted for experimentation and extinction.

Reports are circulating online about several groups of people who are boycotting polio vaccination campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. One boycott was organized by tribal leaders in Lakki Marwat in support of the families of the factory workers kidnapped by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group. The tribal leaders also threatened to hold widespread protests and block a gas pipeline into Punjab until the abductees were returned. Other groups proposed boycotts to pressure the government to restore access to electricity and gas. Finally, local news outlets reported that female polio workers in the province were conducting a boycott, a claim that the workers disputed as baseless and a conspiracy to create a rift between them and the government.

Several social media posts opposing drug use in Pakistan claim that polio drops are “administered at gunpoint.” Identical posts have circulated online periodically for years.