COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Stopping the Spread of Misinformation
Learn how Kroll kept pace with the surge of digital chatter to discover, classify, report adverse events and escalate harmful content in real time. As a result U.S. biotech company could safely produce and distribute its lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine.
Talk to a Kroll expert. Set up a meeting now.
The Challenge
Kroll’s client, a U.S. biotech company, had to defend against an “infodemic” of misinformation happening online—all while producing a vaccine for the COVID-19 outbreak. Agility and speed are core to the client’s work on immunizations for serious global infectious diseases, and a similar approach had to be taken when managing the company’s social media presence. The company handled sporadic consumer engagements about clinical trials using traditional social listening tools. However, in its preparations to produce a huge number of doses per month, the company quickly realized a formal risk intelligence solution was needed.
The race to develop lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines sparked a firestorm of digital chatter on social media. From misinformation to conspiracy theories, pharma companies faced an unprecedented blitz of harmful content from bad actor groups. Meanwhile, as consumers sought answers about these remarkable scientific achievements, vaccine manufacturers had to create safe, compliant online communities to address their questions and concerns.
Kroll’s Solution
Our client employed Kroll to tackle misinformation head-on. We immediately began monitoring and managing the anticipated digital chatter set to overwhelm its communications, social media and compliance teams. The client needed help to categorize and prioritize the level of risk and anticipate the severity of social media commentary as it skyrocketed. Kroll quickly scaled to meet the growing demands placed on the company’s owned social media pages, 24/7/365. This included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn pages across multiple languages and geographies.
Within weeks of partnering with Kroll, the volume of digital chatter on the biotech company’s social media pages rose sharply. The nonstop news cycle about COVID-19 vaccines, coupled with a tidal wave of misinformation, showed no signs of slowing; but the company and Kroll were ready, employing its real-time risk intelligence solution to keep pace with the harmful content and identify security and manufacturing risks as vaccine production began. Embedded within the company’s pharmacovigilance team, Kroll provided best practices in addition to rapid response, recording, reporting and the escalation of harmful content.
In just six months, Kroll reviewed and scanned 250,000 comments for potential adverse events. More than 10,000 items were categorized as misinformation. The company gained a trusted reporting system to grow alongside the distribution of its COVID-19 vaccine.
Safety and compliance are core to our business of providing lifesaving vaccines to the world. We are now able to extend that security to our social media pages and grow as fast and as flexibly as we need to.
Safety and compliance are core to our business of providing lifesaving vaccines to the world. We are now able to extend that security to our social media pages and grow as fast and as flexibly as we need to.
The Impact
Kroll’s fast, actionable risk intelligence gives the biotech company and its teams 24/7/365 protection from reputational damage, as well as best-in-class adverse event detection with zero misses. This peace of mind also means the company can successfully (and securely) scale new vaccines and drug launches into new regions with the proper social media moderation and auditing solutions in place.
Need help staying ahead of a complex challenge?
Contact KrollThe Impact
Kroll’s fast, actionable risk intelligence gives the biotech company and its teams 24/7/365 protection from reputational damage, as well as best-in-class adverse event detection with zero misses. This peace of mind also means the company can successfully (and securely) scale new vaccines and drug launches into new regions with the proper social media moderation and auditing solutions in place.
Need help staying ahead of a complex challenge?
Contact Kroll
Discover More Client Stories
Risk Intelligence
Tackling Online Abuse and Hate Speech for an English Premier League Football Club
In the midst of growing online abuse and hate speech, Kroll helps their partners by delivering fact-based, actionable risk intelligence to ensure the safety of their communities as well as overall reputation. Read more to find out how we did it.
See all servicesStay Ahead with Kroll
Cyber Risk
Incident response, digital forensics, breach notification, managed detection services, penetration testing, cyber assessments and advisory.