By Alexandra Thompson Senior Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 10:09 GMT, 22 March 2019 | Updated: 10:10 GMT, 22 March 2019
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Instagram will block anti-vaxx hashtags in an ongoing attempt to crack down on medical misinformation being shared on the social-media site.
The Facebook-owned company announced last week it will minimise 'recommendations of this content and accounts that post it'.
'Short-term measures' will include blocking hashtags associated with 'known health-related misinformation' including #vaccinescauseautism, #vaccinesarepoison and #vaccinescauseharm.
However, a spokesperson from the social-media giant warned it will take several weeks for the move to come into effect, with these hashtags still being active on Instagram today.
Vaccines are one of the greatest advances of modern medicine, rendering life-threatening disease that could reach epidemic proportions into rarities.
The spread of misinformation online has been blamed for the 'anti-vaxx brigade', which has been hailed one of the greatest threats to public health worldwide.
Instagram has vowed to crack down on medical misinformation on the social-media site by blocking anti-vaxx posts. Pictured is a post that comes up under the search #vaccinescauseallergies. The site adds it may take weeks for the ban to come into effect
Vaccination fears soared following a study by the disgraced gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab can lead to autism in 1995.
His controversial views have since been widely discredited and Wakefield has been struck off - but vaccination rates plummeted in the wake of the study.
An Instagram spokesperson said in a statement: 'As part of our work to address health-related misinformation on Instagram, we’re looking at ways to minimize recommendations of this content and accounts that post it across Instagram.
'[This includes] in 'Suggested For You', Explore and hashtags.
'We noted that this process would take place over several weeks.
'But as we take action in the short-term we know that fighting misinformation is a long-term commitment.'
Although searching for anti-vaxx content still brings up a host of results, Instagram bosses insist clicking on a blocked hashtag will soon take users to a blank page without results.
This comes after Facebook announced at the beginning of the month it will be limiting anti-vaxx misinformation from its groups, pages and news feeds.
Adam Schiff - US representative for California's 28th congressional district - pressed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google's chief executive officer Sundar Pichai over the spread of anti-jab fake news on these platforms.
Mr Schiff claimed algorithms demonstrate Facebook and Google - which owns YouTube - are promoting anti-vaxx messages.
In another attempt to crack down on the anti-vaxx brigade, Facebook has
