Did COVID-19 misinformation cost the lives of 2,800 Canadians?

Now, a Canadian organization is behind an unprecedented use of modelling that has illustrated the disturbing cost of those narratives. The Cost of COVID-19 misinformation Between March and November 2021, misinformation contributed to vaccine hesitancy for an estimated 2.35 million Canadians, according to modelling by the Council of Canadian Academies. The model looked at whether people believed that COVID-19 was a hoax or thought that perceived vaccine harms had been “covered up,” according to the best available polling data. Using a baseline model of real data regarding vaccination levels, case counts, deaths, hospitalizations and intensive care admissions, researchers were able to estimate the impact of misinformation. They show us that misinformation has real-life consequences,” Angus told the Star.