COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation in South Asian Community

The South Asian community has been targeted by people who spread misleading information about the COVID-19 vaccine. WhatsApp groups, YouTube videos and Facebook groups direct their messages to older people who speak Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi.

These platforms post people who are very active on social media. My mother uses social media a lot, and I saw a WhatsApp message in Urdu on my mother’s phone and stared at it in disbelief. The post said the COVID vaccine caused people to become paralyzed. When I asked my mom about where this information came from, she said, “My friend sent it to me.” I asked, “Do you actually believe this?” She told me that we can’t trust the government and maybe this was true.

It is a problem that many are starting to notice. Ehsan Tomai, a New York public school teacher said, “I feel like the biggest obstacle that is facing the South Asian community regarding the misinformation is the language barrier.” He explained, “There is so much lost in translation because these people aren’t able to understand the news outlets and turn to other sources to get news. This is what has been leading to the widespread of misinformation in the community.”

To find out where these posts come from, I tried to join some chats to get an insider view. I used my mom’s Facebook login because people my age don’t use Facebook. Posts told me that the vaccine can cause infertility, paralysis, and they said with each injection the government injected a chip into the person. People from all over the United States participated in these chats and shared links to YouTube videos, posts and articles. They claimed that the government was trying to control the people with the vaccine and the pandemic.

I reached out to one woman who seemed to forward many posts. She did not want her name used and claimed that the news outlets were lying to us and cannot be trusted. I asked her what made her think that social media is a reliable source, and she said that it wasn’t controlled by the government. She was just sharing the truth with everyone else.

She seemed unaware of the negative effects of spreading fake news. After a conversation with her explaining how fake news works and how it is plaguing our society, she claimed that people like me were brainwashed by the government.

The spread of lies has consequences. My mom and dad are afraid to get the vaccine. I’ve been trying to convince them to get an appointment. My dad said, “I’ll schedule an appointment once I’m 100 percent sure that it’s not harmful.”

Many others in the South Asian community throughout the world seem to feel the same way. Dr.Harpreet Sood from the National Health service in the United Kingdom told the BBC, “We’re trying to find role models and influencers and also thinking about ordinary citizens who need to be quick with this information so that they can all support one another because ultimately everyone is a role model to everyone.”

Back here in Brooklyn, I continue to try to convince my parents that the vaccine can help them and to stay away from these false social media stories. I hope that if they know that social media disinformation is not backed by scientific research, they will be more careful where they get their news next time.