Assessment of psychosocial reintegration following prosthetic rehabilitation using Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Devices Scale: A case series.

Misinformation during the COVID‐19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on people's behavior and attitudes towards public health restrictions and vaccination rates. False and misleading claims spread rapidly—especially via social media—and led to widespread confusion, fear, and mistrust []. Often shared by non‐health workers and non‐scientists, this created the perfect storm for non‐compliance with evidence‐based measures, rendering specific communities vulnerable to the virus. This was compounded by prominent figures from within the scientific and medical community, spreading disinformation and misinformation to dissuade vaccine uptake. This led to vaccine hesitancy, with many either refusing or delaying their COVID‐19 vaccine uptake, while others did not have the full‐recommended vaccination courses. Myths around fertility, speed of vaccine development and harmful substances contributed to this [, , ]. As a result of this dis‐ and misinformation, a perpetuated cycle of mistrust in government and healthcare organizations was exacerbated, undermining public health policy. Conspiracy theories snowballed predominantly on social media, resulted in concern and hesitancy among many, including those who usually follow medical and scientific advice [, , ]. This culminated in a hampering of efforts to control the pandemic, prolonging the spread of the virus, leading to more variants, undermining efforts to achieve herd immunity []. Ethnic minority communities were particularly at risk. During the COVID‐19 pandemic, ethnic minority groups in the UK experienced disproportionately higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and mortality compared to the White British population [, ]. This disparity was influenced by a combination of socioeconomic factors, occupational exposures, pre‐existing health conditions, barriers to healthcare access, lack of trust in authority, and dis‐ and misinformation [] (Figure ). Over the entire pandemic period, COVID‐19 mortality rates for males were highest among the Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups []. For females, rates were also highest for these groups, though not significantly higher than the Gypsy and Irish Traveler group or other Black groups []. Schematic diagram summarizing different factors contributing to vulnerability of health misinformation in people from ethnic minority backgrounds.