Analyze how misinformation and disinformation affect vaccine confidence and vaccination rates.

The criteria for the paper are listed below.

The student will submit a 6-8 page paper on their final research topic. This paper can be on anything from the news treatment on science, to the presence of science writing in schools, to what kind of science classes are offered in your course of study. You could look at a specific issue of science (say vaccines or mental health) or do a more meta-type paper that looks at the field itself. This is an open-ended assignment, if you are stuck on the paper, you can email me and we can further discuss your topic.

Demonstrate exceptional insight into the topic chosen and further a unique thesis
Use clear and concise writing, with a thoughtful authorial style
Thoughtfully incorporate evidence from the chosen sources
Be of overall high quality, with a notable degree of polish

**We were supposed to submit a paper proposal ahead of time for the topic on which we will be writing our final paper. I submitted the paper proposal below. So the paper you write must be according to the proposal stated below.**

The proposal I submitted -> “The topic of “vaccine hesitancy” is a major controversy around the globe. Large enough to be listed among the top ten global threats by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019. Vaccine hesitancy is a worldwide phenomenon in which individuals are unsure about vaccines or their effectiveness and may refuse or delay vaccine administration altogether. People may be vaccine hesitant due to a more straightforward rationale such as an underlying fear of pain or have more complex reasons such as the ingredients used and overall side effects (especially among children).
I will analyze how misinformation and disinformation affect vaccine confidence and vaccination rates. I will read articles, reports, and blogs and review information on how public health agencies such as CDC work to improve vaccine confidence among the general public through suggestions, advertisements, and celebrity endorsements or social incentives. I will research how public health agencies frame vaccination as a social norm to promote its acceptability among the general public. I will examine how agencies create new ways to gather information from social media outlets, surveys, and questionnaires to learn about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. I will try to elaborate more on a critical strategy called monitoring misinformation through social media listening, which aims to extinguish any inaccurate trending information about vaccines.”

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