Medical misinformation rife in Amazon bestsellers about public health
When Amazon started out in the nineties, it seemed to have an almost quaint business aim: to help people find an easier way to buy books. Now, of course, it’s expanded into an all-consuming behemoth that sells practically everything.
But what happens when you do just want a book — and you happen to want one about vaccines? Chances are, Amazon’s algorithm will serve you up some top recommendations for anti-vaccine propaganda. And if you’re searching for books about cancer, expect a barrage of titles promoting pseudoscientific cancer treatments.
Amazon has been heavily criticized in the past for selling badly researched, agenda-driven books as science, but it doesn’t appear to have made any difference.
When I did a search for “vaccines,” a recently published work, The Vaccine Watchman comes up as a top result just below a banner that says “Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines” that links to a CDC website. Despite that disclaimer, a quick perusal of the book’s blurb and introduction brings up claims that the smallpox vaccine is actually more harmful than the disease itself, as well as suggestions that natural remedies are better.