Publications on social networks concerning the American Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy JR and the vaccines have received a major commitment from European social media users this year, the Euronews can reveal, which has made concerns concerning the propagation of disinformation as cases of measles increase in Europe.
The articles linked both to RFK JR and to vaccines shared by accounts in French, German and Italian on X have received nearly a million likes, shares and comments in the first quarter of 2025.
More than half of the most efficient posts analyzed have proven to be distributing disinformation, researchers revealed. US President Donald Trump’s president has repeatedly put doubt about vaccine safety.
Social media analysis, carried out by disinformation researchers RUPPLE Researchhas recorded some 220,000 jobs mentioning RFK JR and keyword research linked to three languages vaccine between January and March.
The articles captured concerning RFK JR and the vaccines were written by 53,000 users and engaged with 948,000 times, revealed the analysis of Ripple Research.
It is done in the context of increasing concerns concerning the drop in rates of immunization against measles, because the number of measles cases in the European region doubled last year and has reached the highest rate in 25 years, according to to the World Health Organization and to the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.
UNICEF conducts a study in Romania and France to understand vaccination, has been announced Euronews, and the preliminary data show that a career in two reported that social media has influenced their decision on vaccination or not.
“ Clear connection '' between disinformation and epidemics
“There were more than 100,000 cases of measles in Europe only in 2024. A third of world cases were in Europe,” said Alexei Ceban, an immunization specialist at UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, at Euronews.
“There are important gaps in the coverage of immunization: five in the first 10 countries in Europe and Central Asia were in Europe,” added Ceban, commenting on current measles epidemics.
“Most of the time, we have thought that measles, or other prepaid diseases, can be recorded in other low -income countries, but this is not the case.”
“I think that disinformation affects the coverage of immunization and we see a clear link between these two phenomena … which leads to enormous epidemics,” he said.
Ceban called for a “appropriate vaccination”. “Children die or undergo serious consequences … Pneumonia, blindness. Breakthrough is a serious illness.”
In the United States, more than 700 cases of measles have been reported in epidemics across the country. It was confirmed that two children died of measles in 2025.
RFK JR, which previously made uninbeated complaints concerning the safety and efficiency of the measle-red (MMR) vaccine, has so far made its strongest comment in favor of the vaccine “.
RFK JR also sparked a reaction after stating that the increase in autism rates was the result of an “environmental toxin” because he announced that his department would undertake A massive effort To determine the cause of development disorder.
ADVERTISEMENTTrump also suggested that vaccines may be to blame for autism rates, despite decades of research concluding that there is no link between the two. Scientists have found no evidence to increase autism rates in those who are vaccinated in relation to those who are not.
Anti-vaccine stories increase
Meanwhile, social media networks have not found an effective way to curb the theories of disinformation and conspiracy, and certain decisions have opened the possibility of their additional spread.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X in October 2022, which led to the dismissal of its fact checks, the experts warned that the misleading information has spread more easily since.
In January, Meta announced that it abandoned its use of independent fact checks on its Facebook and Instagram platforms, with the plan to replace them in place by “community notes” in style X.
ADVERTISEMENT“We immediately saw an outpouring of disinformation which was being read a little before. He has just opened the valves,” Professor Heidi Larson, head of the London School of Hygiene and tropical medicine in Euronews.
“We must realize the situation – we cannot count on their verification of the facts, and we must think of ways to obtain more honest information.”
Larson has thought about how anti-vaccine or vaccine views have gone from a marginal position in the dominant current in the past two decades. The position of RFK JR as secretary in the United States “their dressed at any other level, it is more difficult to be disdainful when someone in his position says the same thing,” Larson told Euronews.
However, the Secretary in the United States of Health rejects the “Anti-Vaccin” label, she said. “He claims to be” pro security “, not against vaccines.” However, this can still empower people subject to conspiracy theories, said Larson.
ADVERTISEMENTLarson warned that there was an “additional risk” that people who had already trusted by taking vaccines could be influenced against them.
“That they see so much from this other point of view which begins to question when they were not before, then begin to spread it and to say:” I heard this, what do you think? “”
Covid Jabs also targeted
The researchers identified three key moments in which articles concerning the American Secretary for Health increased on X and the disinformation stories that accompanied them.
The posts in French, Italian and German discussing vaccines and RFK JR increased at the end of January after the senators questioned it during its confirmation audience. Six of the 10 most efficient positions analyzed at that time contained disinformation, the researchers said, including the positions amplifying the statements of RFK JR concerning the risks of COVVI-19 vaccines.
ADVERTISEMENTScientific consensus is that the risks of COVVI-19 vaccines are considerably smaller than those of the disease. As with any medical product, vaccines are not 100%sure, but most side effects are soft and temporary.
Commitment – and the proliferation of anti -vaccine disinformation – increased more the following month at the Kennedy swearing ceremony.
All the most successful articles analyzed at that time have proven to advance disinformation, including Kennedy's misleading complaint on a lack of data on the security of COVVI-19 vaccines. COVID-19 shots is safety is well -established.
Users publishing on X in the three European languages above again made misleading and ill-informed allegations concerning vaccination at the end of March, after the resignation of the FDA vaccination division, Dr. Peter Marks.
ADVERTISEMENTThe analysis revealed that five out of 10 of the most efficient items linked to RFK JR and that vaccines at this stage contained disinformation, because the stories were spread over brands which “block” surveys on vaccine injuries.
Marks told AP that he refused to authorize accessless access to a closely kept vaccine safety database, fearing that the information is handled.
He said he had agreed to grant the RFK JR team the opportunity to read thousands of potential problems related to vaccines sent to the reporting system of unfavorable events of the government, but it would not allow them to directly modify the data.
On X, some have called to adopt a similar “purge” of the health system in France.
ADVERTISEMENTWhile they continue to gain importance, Larson called “a completely different approach” to fight against the rise of individuals and groups that seek to undermine confidence in vaccines.
“We must find ways beyond the verification of the facts. These are movements, an entirely different approach is necessary.
“Covid blew up the roof of the multicangue propagation of (these stories). Nothing remains local, we see people deliberately push what we call disinformation … They are looking for opportunities and amplifying everything that supports this point of view.”
Euronews contacted the United States Ministry of Health and Social Services and X for comments.
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