Polio Pulse

Polio Pulse provides social listening insights to support GPEI’s polio interventions on disinformation, crisis communication, and strategic communication. Data is monitored from polio-endemic and outbreak countries and geographies classified by GPEI, covering 12 major languages spoken in these regions. The platform is managed by the UNICEF Digital Community Engagement (DCE) team.

Medium Risk

Posts label vaccines “poison” as Kenya’s vaccine shortage continues

Geography
Kenya
Themes
Necessity
Safety and side effects

Analysis

As parents in Kenya continue to search for vaccines during the ongoing shortage, some online users claim that vaccines are “poison” that children don’t need. One post also claimed that vaccines are “contraceptives” meant to prevent births.

Recommendations

Messengers may wish to partner with trusted health, faith, and community leaders to explain the benefits of childhood vaccination for children and their families. Messaging may emphasize that hundreds of millions of children worldwide safely receive polio vaccines each year. Polio vaccines have eliminated polio in most countries and prevented paralysis in millions of children.