’Infodemic’ risks jeopardising virus vaccines

 

’Infodemic’ risks jeopardising virus vaccines

 「假資訊大流行」有危害新冠病毒疫苗計畫之虞

【摘要2020.12.30.自由】◎管淑平

As early as February, with the global pandemic spreading fast, the World Health Organization issued a warning about an "infodemic", a wave of fake news and misinformation about the deadly new disease on social media.

在全球大流行病疫情迅速蔓延之際，世界衛生組織早自2月起就警告「假資訊大流行」：社群網路上一波有關這場新的致命疾病的假新聞與不實資訊。

Now with hopes hanging on Covid-19 vaccines, the WHO and experts are warning those same phenomena may jeopardise roll-out of immunisation programmes meant to bring an end to the suffering.

現在隨著希望繫於新型冠狀病毒病疫苗上，世衛和專家正警告，同樣的現象，或許也會危害那些旨在結束這場疫情磨難的免疫計畫的推出。

"The coronavirus disease is the first pandemic in history in which technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, informed, productive and connected," the WHO said.

「新冠病毒疾病是史上第一個大規模利用科技和社群媒體，使人們安全、獲知訊息、維持生產力和彼此聯繫的全球大流行疫情」，世衛說。

"At the same time, the technology we rely on to keep connected and informed is enabling and amplifying an infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardises measures to control the pandemic."（AFP）

「同時，我們賴以保持聯繫和獲得資訊的科技，也正使假資訊大肆蔓延和擴大，持續打擊和危害全球回應、控制疫情措施。」（法新社）

新聞辭典

infodemic：名詞，假資訊大流行。例句：The new website aims to combat the “infodemic” online surrounding COVID-19.（這個新網站旨在打擊與新型冠狀病毒病有關的假資訊盛行。）

jeopardise：動詞，危害、破壞。例句：The pandemic has jeopardised economic recovery.（這場疫情已經危害經濟復甦。）

amplify：動詞，擴大、擴充、詳述。例句：Computerized trading programs react to trends in the market and then amplify those trends.（電腦化的交易程式對市場趨勢做出反應，然後放大這些趨勢。）