Abstract

The involvement of health professional, politicians, and religious leaders with negationist speech, the facility to share and consume internet and social media contents potentiated the dissemination of pandemic misinformation among the population. The intellectual chaos created by health politicization and misinformation increased the social resistance to Covid-19 prevention and control measures (ie, use of mask, social distancing and isolation, correct drug treatment and active search for new cases). This scenario had a direct impact on the increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus and, consequently, on public health spending. After two years of the pandemic, almost 428 million new cases and 6 million deaths from Covid-19 had been reported worldwide. The impact of the pandemic on public health and the world economy would be smaller if social agents valued science both in its guidelines for the population and in the conduct adopted to control the pandemic.

Keywords:Covid-19; Public health; Conspiracy beliefs; Fake news; Politicization