ATLANTA — We’ve all been warned not to believe everything you see online, but with TikTok now reaching a billion users each month, combatting COVID misinformation is becoming more challenging.
Two Atlanta doctors are now taking matters into their own hands, hoping their own viral videos will help give people the facts and combat dangerous suggestions.
If you’re on TikTok or Instagram, you may have seen videos of a healthcare worker attempting to clear false information about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Emergency Medical Physician Dr. Trey Robinson is one of them. He goes by BruthaMD on TikTok and says he feels a duty to put out videos that get people's attention while still giving them the facts.
“When you go to TikTok, you see a lot of dancing, a lot of pop music, R&B music. So I wanted to make sure that I reach people that were already watching similar videos like that," Robinson said.
Dr. Jayne Morgan, the director of Piedmont's COVID-19 task force is also tackling misinformation in 60 seconds or less in her series called 'Stairwell Chronicles'.
“With my Stairwell Chronicles, I’ve learned to share information in 60 second stents because that’s the attention span you're dealing with,” Morgan said.
Experts say vaccine skeptics have promoted a growing number of unproven at-home remedies with the latest being Hydrogen Peroxide.
“I've addressed remedies from drinking vodka, drinking rum, hydrogen peroxide, inhaling bleach, oregano, Vitamin C. All of these home remedies really have been debunked and we don’t have any scientific data to prove any of this is true," Morgan said.
The pair of doctors telling me battling misinformation has become a whole other job on top of their actual job duties.
“I think the more times me and others spend time doing it, the more effective it would be. But we’ve got to make a living on the other hand," Morgan said.
Both doctors want to make it clear that the best way to avoid getting COVID is to get the vaccine. If you have any questions about the shots or any treatment, talk directly to a doctor or nurse.