scholarly journals Harnessing Twitter data to survey public attention and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines in the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seena Fazel ◽  
Le Zhang ◽  
Babak Javid ◽  
Isabell Brikell ◽  
Zheng Chang
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
News Announcements ◽  
News Announcement ◽  
Socio Demographic Factors ◽  
The Uk

AbstractAttitudes to COVID-19 vaccination vary considerably within and between countries. Although the contribution of socio-demographic factors to these attitudes has been studied, the role of social media and how it interacts with news about vaccine development and efficacy is uncertain. We examined around 2 million tweets from 522,893 persons in the UK from November 2020 to January 2021 to evaluate links between Twitter content about vaccines and major scientific news announcements about vaccines. The proportion of tweets with negative vaccine content varied, with reductions of 20–24% on the same day as major news announcement. However, the proportion of negative tweets reverted back to an average of around 40% within a few days. Engagement rates were higher for negative tweets. Public health messaging could consider the dynamics of Twitter-related traffic and the potential contribution of more targeted social media campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy.

scholarly journals Lack of trust and social media echo chambers predict COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Jennings ◽  
Gerry Stoker ◽  
Hannah Willis ◽  
Viktor Valgardsson ◽  
Jen Gaskell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Media Impact ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Uk

AbstractAs COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out across the world, there are growing concerns about the role that trust, belief in conspiracy theories and spread of misinformation through social media impact vaccine hesitancy. We use a nationally representative survey of 1,476 adults in the UK between December 12 to 18, 2020 and five focus groups conducted in the same period. Trust is a core predictor, with distrust in vaccines in general and mistrust in government raising vaccine hesitancy. Trust in health institutions and experts and perceived personal threat are vital, with focus groups revealing that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is driven by a misunderstanding of herd immunity as providing protection, fear of rapid vaccine development and side effects, belief the virus is man- made and related to population control. Particularly those who obtain information from relatively unregulated social media sources such as YouTube that have recommendations tailored by watch history are less likely to be willing to become vaccinated. Those who hold general conspiratorial beliefs are less willing to be vaccinated. Since an increasing number of individuals use social media for gathering health information, interventions require action from governments, health officials and social media companies. More attention needs to help people understand their own risks, unpack complex concepts and fill knowledge voids.

scholarly journals Lack of Trust, Conspiracy Beliefs, and Social Media Use Predict COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 593
Author(s):  
Will Jennings ◽  
Gerry Stoker ◽  
Hannah Bunting ◽  
Viktor Orri Valgarðsson ◽  
Jennifer Gaskell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Uk

As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out across the world, there are growing concerns about the roles that trust, belief in conspiracy theories, and spread of misinformation through social media play in impacting vaccine hesitancy. We use a nationally representative survey of 1476 adults in the UK between 12 and 18 December 2020, along with 5 focus groups conducted during the same period. Trust is a core predictor, with distrust in vaccines in general and mistrust in government raising vaccine hesitancy. Trust in health institutions and experts and perceived personal threat are vital, with focus groups revealing that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is driven by a misunderstanding of herd immunity as providing protection, fear of rapid vaccine development and side effects, and beliefs that the virus is man-made and used for population control. In particular, those who obtain information from relatively unregulated social media sources—such as YouTube—that have recommendations tailored by watch history, and who hold general conspiratorial beliefs, are less willing to be vaccinated. Since an increasing number of individuals use social media for gathering health information, interventions require action from governments, health officials, and social media companies. More attention needs to be devoted to helping people understand their own risks, unpacking complex concepts, and filling knowledge voids.

scholarly journals Faster than warp speed: early attention to COVD-19 by anti-vaccine groups on Facebook

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C Kalichman ◽  
Lisa A Eaton ◽  
Valerie A Earnshaw ◽  
Natalie Brousseau
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Vaccine Information

Abstract Background The unprecedented rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has faced SARS-CoV- (COVID-19) vaccine hesitancy, which is partially fueled by the misinformation and conspiracy theories propagated by anti-vaccine groups on social media. Research is needed to better understand the early COVID-19 anti-vaccine activities on social media. Methods This study chronicles the social media posts concerning COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines by leading anti-vaccine groups (Dr Tenpenny on Vaccines, the National Vaccine Information Center [NVIC] the Vaccination Information Network [VINE]) and Vaccine Machine in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic (February–May 2020). Results Analysis of 2060 Facebook posts showed that anti-vaccine groups were discussing COVID-19 in the first week of February 2020 and were specifically discussing COVID-19 vaccines by mid-February 2020. COVID-19 posts by NVIC were more widely disseminated and showed greater influence than non-COVID-19 posts. Early COVID-19 posts concerned mistrust of vaccine safety and conspiracy theories. Conclusion Major anti-vaccine groups were sowing seeds of doubt on Facebook weeks before the US government launched its vaccine development program ‘Operation Warp Speed’. Early anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns outpaced public health messaging and hampered the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

scholarly journals Examining the Utility of Social Media in COVID-19 Vaccination: Unsupervised Learning of 672,133 Twitter Posts (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tau Ming Liew ◽  
Cia Sin Lee
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Public Concerns

BACKGROUND Although COVID-19 vaccines have recently become available, efforts in global mass vaccination can be hampered by the widespread issue of vaccine hesitancy. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to use social media data to capture close-to-real-time public perspectives and sentiments regarding COVID-19 vaccines, with the intention to understand the key issues that have captured public attention, as well as the barriers and facilitators to successful COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS Twitter was searched for tweets related to “COVID-19” and “vaccine” over an 11-week period after November 18, 2020, following a press release regarding the first effective vaccine. An unsupervised machine learning approach (ie, structural topic modeling) was used to identify topics from tweets, with each topic further grouped into themes using manually conducted thematic analysis as well as guided by the theoretical framework of the COM-B (capability, opportunity, and motivation components of behavior) model. Sentiment analysis of the tweets was also performed using the rule-based machine learning model VADER (Valence Aware Dictionary and Sentiment Reasoner). RESULTS Tweets related to COVID-19 vaccines were posted by individuals around the world (N=672,133). Six overarching themes were identified: (1) emotional reactions related to COVID-19 vaccines (19.3%), (2) public concerns related to COVID-19 vaccines (19.6%), (3) discussions about news items related to COVID-19 vaccines (13.3%), (4) public health communications about COVID-19 vaccines (10.3%), (5) discussions about approaches to COVID-19 vaccination drives (17.1%), and (6) discussions about the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines (20.3%). Tweets with negative sentiments largely fell within the themes of emotional reactions and public concerns related to COVID-19 vaccines. Tweets related to facilitators of vaccination showed temporal variations over time, while tweets related to barriers remained largely constant throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS The findings from this study may facilitate the formulation of comprehensive strategies to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake; they highlight the key processes that require attention in the planning of COVID-19 vaccination and provide feedback on evolving barriers and facilitators in ongoing vaccination drives to allow for further policy tweaks. The findings also illustrate three key roles of social media in COVID-19 vaccination, as follows: surveillance and monitoring, a communication platform, and evaluation of government responses.

The Radical Statistics Group: using statistics for progressive social change

2019 ◽  
pp. 307-318
Author(s):  
Jeff Evans ◽  
Ludi Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Statistical Models ◽  
Official Statistics ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Labour Government ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Dominant Discourses ◽  
The Uk

The UK-based Radical Statistics Group has a long-standing role in shaping statistics to support progressive social change. It has worked to demystify and critique official statistics, and to trace the consequences of using statistical models and their assumptions The Group has used its energies to encourage statistical literacy and campaigning effectiveness among progressive groups that seek its help. Its early days from the 1970s were characterised by a range of ‘progressive’ publications and well-received interventions in crucial debates and official consultations. In the 1990s it contributed to the wave of reforms of statistical outputs and procedures brought to fruition by the incoming Labour government. At the current time it provides ongoing resources of annual conferences, regular journal and email, a website and social media. Campaigns are often developed outside Radical Statistics structures, but with the key support of RadStats contacts, resources and ideas. At a time when it is archiving its first forty years of papers in the Welcome Library, Radical Statistics envisages a future enhanced by the activity of a range of allies, and the resources they provide, so as to formulate effective alternatives to the dominant discourses of our time.

scholarly journals Vaccine Confidence and Hesitancy at the Start of COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment in the UK: An Embedded Mixed-Methods Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissy h. Roberts ◽  
Hannah Brindle ◽  
Nina T. Rogers ◽  
Rosalind M. Eggo ◽  
Luisa Enria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Vaccine Confidence ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Dominant Narratives

Background: Approval for the use of COVID-19 vaccines has been granted in a number of countries but there are concerns that vaccine uptake may be low amongst certain groups.Methods: This study used a mixed methods approach based on online survey and an embedded quantitative/qualitative design to explore perceptions and attitudes that were associated with intention to either accept or refuse offers of vaccination in different demographic groups during the early stages of the UK's mass COVID-19 vaccination programme (December 2020). Analysis used multivariate logistic regression, structural text modeling and anthropological assessments.Results: Of 4,535 respondents, 85% (n = 3,859) were willing to have a COVID-19 vaccine. The rapidity of vaccine development and uncertainties about safety were common reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. There was no evidence for the widespread influence of mis-information, although broader vaccine hesitancy was associated with intentions to refuse COVID-19 vaccines (OR 20.60, 95% CI 14.20–30.30, p < 0.001). Low levels of trust in the decision-making (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.08, 2.48, p = 0.021) and truthfulness (OR 8.76, 95% CI 4.15–19.90, p < 0.001) of the UK government were independently associated with higher odds of refusing COVID-19 vaccines. Compared to political centrists, conservatives and liberals were, respectively, more (OR 2.05, 95%CI 1.51–2.80, p < 0.001) and less (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.22–0.41, p < 0.001) likely to refuse offered vaccines. Those who were willing to be vaccinated cited both personal and public protection as reasons, with some alluding to having a sense of collective responsibility.Conclusion: Dominant narratives of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy are misconceived as primarily being driven by misinformation. Key indicators of UK vaccine acceptance include prior behaviors, transparency of the scientific process of vaccine development, mistrust in science and leadership and individual political views. Vaccine programmes should leverage the sense of altruism, citizenship and collective responsibility that motivated many participants to get vaccinated.

scholarly journals Artificial intelligence-enabled analysis of UK and US public attitudes on Twitter and Facebook towards COVID-19 vaccination (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Hussain ◽  
Ahsen Tahir ◽  
Zain Hussain ◽  
Zakariya Sheikh ◽  
Kia Dashtipour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Attitude ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Uk

UNSTRUCTURED Background: Global efforts towards the development and deployment of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 are rapidly advancing. We developed and applied an artificial-intelligence (AI)-based approach to analyse social-media public sentiment in the UK and the US towards COVID-19 vaccinations, to understand public attitude and identify topics of concern. Methods: Over 300,000 social-media posts related to COVID-19 vaccinations were extracted, including 23,571 Facebook-posts from the UK and 144,864 from the US, along with 40,268 tweets from the UK and 98,385 from the US respectively, from 1st March - 22nd November 2020. We used natural-language processing and deep learning-based techniques to predict average sentiments, sentiment trends and topics of discussion. These were analysed longitudinally and geo-spatially, and a manual- eading of randomly selected posts around points of interest helped identify underlying themes and validated insights from the analysis. Results: We found overall averaged positive, negative and neutral sentiment in the UK to be 58%, 22% and 17%, compared to 56%, 24% and 18% in the US, respectively. Public optimism over vaccine development, effectiveness and trials as well as concerns over safety, economic viability and corporation control were identified. We compared our findings to national surveys in both countries and found them to correlate broadly. Conclusions: AI-enabled social-media analysis should be considered for adoption by institutions and governments, alongside surveys and other conventional methods of assessing public attitude. This could enable real-time assessment, at scale, of public confidence and trust in COVID-19 vaccinations, help address concerns of vaccine-sceptics and develop more effective policies and communication strategies to maximise uptake.

scholarly journals Negative sentiment towards COVID-19 vaccines: A comparative study of USA and UK social media posts before vaccination rollout

F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 472
Author(s):  
James Lappeman ◽  
Keneilwe Munyai ◽  
Benjamin Mugo Kagina
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Negative Comments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Human Validation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Negative Sentiment

Abstract  Introduction: The global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic was rapid and devastating to humanity. The public health response to the pandemic was rapid too. Completion of COVID-19 vaccine development was achieved in under a year. The USA and the UK were the first countries to rollout COVID-19 vaccines to contain the pandemic. Successful rollout of the vaccines hinges on many factors, among which is public trust.   Aim: To investigate the sentiments towards COVID-19 vaccines in the USA and UK prior to vaccination rollout.  Methods: Neuro-linguistic programming with human validation was used to analyse a sample of 243,883 COVID-19 vaccine related social media posts from the USA and the UK in the period 28 July to 28 August 2020. The sentiment analysis measured polarity (positive, neutral, negative), and the themes present in negative comments.   Results: In the sample of 243,883 social media posts, both the USA and the UK had a net sentiment profile of approximately 28% positive, 8% negative and 63% neutral sentiment. On further analysis, there were distinct differences between the two country’s social media sentiment towards COVID-19 vaccines. The differences were seen in the themes behind the negative sentiment. In the USA, the negative sentiments were mainly due to health and safety concerns, the fear of making a vaccine mandatory, and the role that pharmaceutical companies would play with the release of vaccines. In the UK the main driver of negative sentiment was the fear of making the vaccine mandatory (almost double the size of the sentiment in the USA).  Conclusions: Negative sentiments towards COVID-19 vaccines were prevalent in the third quarter of 2020 in the USA and the UK. Reasons behind the negative sentiments can be used by authorities in the two countries to design evidence-based interventions to address the refusal of vaccination against COVID-19.

scholarly journals Mode and Frequency of Covid-19 Information Updates, Political Values, and Future Covid-19 Vaccine Attitudes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan McAndrew ◽  
Daniel Allington
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Media Consumption ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Information Updates ◽  
The Uk ◽  
British Sample

The effect of social media consumption on perceptions of the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic, attitudes to public health requirements, and intentions towards a future Covid-19 vaccine are of live public health interest. There are also public health and security concerns that the pandemic has been accompanied and arguably further amplified by an ‘infodemic’ spreading misinformation. Tests of the effect of social media consumption on future Covid-19 vaccine intentions using population samples have been relatively few to date. This study contributes to the evidence base by examining social media consumption and vaccine intentions using British and US population samples.Methods: Data were gathered on 1,663 GB adults and 1,198 US adults from an online panel on attitudes towards a future vaccine alongside self-reported social and legacy broadcast and print media consumption. Ordered and binomial logit models were used to assess reported intentions regarding a future Covid-19 vaccine, testing the effects of media consumption type. Respondents were categorised in terms of their media consumption using a fourfold typology, as less frequent social, less frequent legacy media consumers (low-low); high social, low legacy media consumers (high-low); low social, high legacy (low-high); and high social, high legacy (high-high).Results: In the British sample, regression results indicate that those who receive Covid-19 updates more frequently via legacy media (low-high), and those being updated more than daily via both online and legacy media consumers, tend to provide significantly less Covid-19 vaccine-hesitant responses than low-low consumers. There is no significant difference between high social, low legacy media consumers and low-low consumers. In the US sample, membership of the low-high group is associated with lower Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy compared with low-low consumers. However, respondents consuming both social and legacy media several times daily exhibit similar vaccine intentions on average to those consuming social media daily and legacy media less often, providing a contrast with the UK sample. We also identify differences in Covid-19 vaccine intentions relating to demographics and political values.Conclusions: Differences in vaccine attentions are associated with the extent and balance of consumption of news relating to Covid-19 and its source. Political values and ethnic identity also appear to structure attitudes to a future Covid-19 vaccine.

Media Campaigns

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail Woods-Waller
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Public Access ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Sector ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Media Channels

Significant advances in media variety and public access to information have blurred the lines between journalism, advertising, public relations, marketing, and all other communication industries. As a result of unprecedented media proliferation, social sector professionals have more opportunities—and greater competition—to gain public attention and support for their issues and services. In addition, the expansion of the Internet through social media and mobile devices has revolutionized the way we communicate. This entry explores different types of promotional campaigns, converging media channels, and the implications of 24/7 interactivity on social work advocacy.

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