Date Time Researchers Study Anti-Vax Facebook Groups in Early Days of COVID-19 Pandemic UConn researchers’ work studying the activity of anti-vaccine groups on Facebook in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic holds important lessons for public health officials. Students receiving the COVID 19 vaccine at Hawley Armory on April 8, 2021. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo) Social media has become a powerful force for spreading information, and unfortunately, misinformation. Anti-vaccine groups have established a strong presence on social media sites like Facebook. A pair of UConn researchers recently found these groups quickly seized on the COVID-19 pandemic as their next avenue of mongering fears over a vaccine before it even existed.