Anti-vaxxers are creating leaflets to look like official NHS documents and cartoon posters targeting children to share misinformation about Covid vaccines.
Posters are being shared on Telegram channels, with members urged to plaster posters around local areas or share them on social media.
Some anti-vax groups on the messaging service are mobilising people to visit areas around schools to approach teenagers to discuss vaccines and misinformation.
The move comes as the government prepares to make a decision about vaccinating 12-15-year-olds after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) refused to approve the move.
In one channel, an official-looking “advice leaflet” to spread disinformation about Covid-19 has been disseminated, an investigation by media non-profit the Citizens revealed.
Bearing the National Health Service (NHS) and Her Majesty’s (HM) government logos, the leaflet falsely advises that “children are not at risk from Covid” and that “Zinc, Vitamin D and Ivermectin” are effective treatments for the virus.
Designed as a shareable download, the leaflet not only poses as an official document, but the designer plans to share it among anti-vaxxers to print out and distribute in their local areas, analysis of the anti-vax ViVa Democracy UK channel by Citizens found.
Read more: Anti-vaxxers mock up leaflets imitating NHS documents and cartoon posters targeting children
