More doctors should get on social media and address harmful anti-vaccination messages, according to researchers who have analysed what is behind parental vaccine hesitancy.

A US analysis shows it’s not all about autism on Facebook, and one of the major issues is that anti-vax parents are “highly mistrustful” of the medical and science community.

They say boosting the number of clinician-commentators in online forums will help cultivate trust in doctors and vaccines.

“Just as vaccination is needed to prevent the spread of infectious disease, interventions are needed to prevent the spread of anti-vaccination message online,” they write.