scholarly journals The anti-vaccination infodemic on social media: a behavioral analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Germani ◽  
Nikola Biller-Andorno
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Effective Strategies

AbstractVaccinations are without doubt one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, and there is hope that they can constitute a solution to halt the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the anti-vaccination movement is currently on the rise, spreading online misinformation about vaccine safety and causing a worrying reduction in vaccination rates worldwide. In this historical time, it is imperative to understand the reasons of vaccine hesitancy, and to find effective strategies to dismantle the rhetoric of anti-vaccination supporters. For this reason, we analyzed the behavior of anti-vaccination supporters on the platform Twitter. Here we identify that anti-vaccination supporters, in comparison to pro-vaccination supporters, share conspiracy theories and make use of emotional language. We demonstrate that anti-vaccination supporters are more engaged in discussions on Twitter and share their contents from a pull of strong influencers. We show that the movement’s success relies on a strong sense of community, based on the contents produced by a small fraction of profiles, with the community at large serving as a sounding board for anti-vaccination discourse to circulate online. Surprisingly, our data demonstrate that Donald Trump, together with members of his entourage and his closest supporters, are the main drivers of vaccine misinformation on Twitter. Based on these results, we propose to strategically target the anti-vaccination community online through policies that aim at halting the circulation of false information about vaccines. Based on our data, we also propose solutions to improve the communication strategy of health organizations and build a community of engaged influencers that support the dissemination of scientific insights, including issues related to vaccines and their safety.

scholarly journals The anti-vaccination infodemic on social media: A behavioral analysis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247642
Author(s):  
Federico Germani ◽  
Nikola Biller-Andorno
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Main Driver

Vaccinations are without doubt one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, and there is hope that they can constitute a solution to halt the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the anti-vaccination movement is currently on the rise, spreading online misinformation about vaccine safety and causing a worrying reduction in vaccination rates worldwide. In this historical time, it is imperative to understand the reasons of vaccine hesitancy, and to find effective strategies to dismantle the rhetoric of anti-vaccination supporters. For this reason, we analyzed the behavior of anti-vaccination supporters on the platform Twitter. Here we identify that anti-vaccination supporters, in comparison with pro-vaccination supporters, share conspiracy theories and make use of emotional language. We demonstrate that anti-vaccination supporters are more engaged in discussions on Twitter and share their contents from a pull of strong influencers. We show that the movement’s success relies on a strong sense of community, based on the contents produced by a small fraction of profiles, with the community at large serving as a sounding board for anti-vaccination discourse to circulate online. Our data demonstrate that Donald Trump, before his profile was suspended, was the main driver of vaccine misinformation on Twitter. Based on these results, we welcome policies that aim at halting the circulation of false information about vaccines by targeting the anti-vaccination community on Twitter. Based on our data, we also propose solutions to improve the communication strategy of health organizations and build a community of engaged influencers that support the dissemination of scientific insights, including issues related to vaccines and their safety.

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.

Compulsory vaccinations for children: Balancing the competing human rights at stake

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-267
Author(s):  
Francesca Camilleri
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Childhood Diseases ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
European Court ◽  
Controversial Topic ◽  
Vaccine Confidence

Vaccination for children has been a controversial topic for decades and lately it has regained particular importance. We have seen an increase in vaccine hesitancy and decrease in vaccine confidence throughout Europe, particularly due to vaccine-safety concerns by parents. Consequently, vaccination rates for children have dropped and this in turn has led to an increased spread of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, such as measles. As a reaction to this phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy, several European countries have introduced, while others are in the process of introducing, laws making vaccinations compulsory for children for a number of vaccine-preventable childhood diseases. The introduction of such laws affects and gives rise to several competing interests of the parents, the child and the State. Against this background, this article seeks to determine how the European Court of Human Rights should balance the competing human rights that are at stake in cases concerning compulsory vaccinations for children.

scholarly journals Perceived vaccine safety over time in a vaccine hesitant sample: Impact of pausing due to safety concerns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Rodebaugh ◽  
Madelyn Frumkin ◽  
Rachel Garg ◽  
Laura LaGesse ◽  
Amy McQueen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Intensive Longitudinal Data ◽  
Perceptions Of Safety ◽  
Vaccine Availability ◽  
Over Time

In the current effort to vaccinate as many people as possible against COVID-19, it has been suggested that events such as the pause in the use of the Janssen vaccine would have a large effect on perceptions of vaccine safety. Further, as vaccination rates slow, there is concern that hesitancy may be stable and difficult to change among those still unvaccinated. We examined both of these issues in our ongoing study of low-income participants. We modeled the intensive longitudinal data provided by 53 individuals. We found the negative, not statistically significant effect of the Janssen pause would be overwhelmed within weeks by the statistically significant increasing perceptions of safety across time. We also observed strong variability in vaccine hesitancy in many participants. Frequent reminders about vaccine availability might catch more people when they are less hesitant, helping increase vaccination rates.

scholarly journals What Barriers Exist in the Minds of Vaccine-Hesitant Parents, and How Can We Address Them?

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 626-630
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Kerrigan ◽  
Imane Aitnouri ◽  
Jessica Mar ◽  
Wayne Altman
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Vaccine Schedule ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Risk Of Disease ◽  
Sexual Concerns

Background and Objectives: Despite substantial health benefits and prolific research efforts to demonstrate safety and increase uptake, vaccine hesitancy has increased dramatically. This study aimed to systematically analyze available literature on vaccine hesitancy in the United States and determine the rationale behind vaccine-hesitant parents and potential interventions. Methods: We conducted a literature search and identified 232 articles; we included 90 after screening. We pulled information from each article using standardized questions for “type of study,” “population,” “specific vaccine,” “reasons for hesitancy,” “hesitancy prevalence,” “attempt at change,” “results of intervention,” and “future interventions.” We created recurrent themes from the data and analyzed these themes via descriptive statistics. Results: Vaccine safety was the most commonly identified reason for vaccine hesitancy amongst studies (50%), followed by not enough information (30%), side effects (26%), low risk of disease (26%), social norms (22%), vaccine schedule (21%), not recommended by doctor (21%), efficacy (18%), cost/access (13%), sexual concerns (12%) and distrust of establishment (7%). Only 20% of papers documented an intervention, and <50% of these reported increased vaccination rates or intent. More research was the most commonly identified next step (49%). Conclusions: Despite large amounts of research on vaccination rates, patients are still reporting not enough information and safety as the most common reasons for vaccine hesitancy. Interventions were few and without promising results. More research was the most suggested intervention. Such research must address concerns of the vaccine-hesitant community, comparing risks and benefits of each vaccination in a longitudinal, coherent, and transparently unbiased fashion.

scholarly journals Vaccine Hesitancy in the Time of COVID-19: Attitudes and Intentions of Teens and Parents Regarding the COVID-19 Vaccine

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Amy B. Middleman ◽  
Judy Klein ◽  
Jane Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Coverage ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Parental Concerns ◽  
The Us ◽  
Coverage Rates

To assess attitudes and intentions related to the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, we surveyed adolescents aged 13–18 years and the parents of 13–18-year-olds using national research panels on three occasions or “waves”: before the COVID-19 vaccine was available, after it was available for adults, and after it was available for ages ≥12 years. Data on experiences with COVID-19, the importance of adolescent vaccines, and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination were analyzed across time points. We found that parental concerns about vaccine safety significantly increased from Wave 1 to 2. Social media had a negative influence on parents’ and adolescents’ opinions about vaccine safety. Demographic variables were associated with vaccination rates reported in Wave 3, consistent with known inequities related to vaccine access. Parents (70%) were supportive of concomitant COVID-19 vaccination with other adolescent vaccines for teens. It is important to address variables associated with vaccine hesitancy to increase COVID-19 vaccine coverage rates in the US.

scholarly journals Antivaccine Movement and COVID-19 Negationism: A Content Analysis of Spanish-Written Messages on Twitter

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 656
Author(s):  
Ivan Herrera-Peco ◽  
Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez ◽  
Carlos Santiago Romero Magdalena ◽  
Juan José Deudero ◽  
María García-Puente ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Genetic Code ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Influential Users ◽  
Main Language

During the COVID-19 pandemic, different conspiracies have risen, with the most dangerous being those focusing on vaccines. Today, there exists a social media movement focused on destroying the credibility of vaccines and trying to convince people to ignore the advice of governments and health organizations on vaccination. Our aim was to analyze a COVID-19 antivaccination message campaign on Twitter that uses Spanish as the main language, to find the key elements in their communication strategy. Twitter data were retrieved from 14 to 28 December using NodeXL software. We analyzed tweets in Spanish, focusing on influential users, most influential tweets, and content analysis of tweets. The results revealed ordinary citizens who ‘offer the truth’ as the most important profile in this network. The content analysis showed antivaccine tweets (31.05%) as the most frequent. The analysis of anti-COVID19 tweets showed that attacks against vaccine safety were the most important (79.87%) but we detected a new kind of message presenting the vaccine as a means of manipulating the human genetic code (8.1%). We concluded that the antivaccine movement and its tenets have great influence in the COVID-19 negationist movement. We observed a new topic in COVID-19 vaccine hoaxes that must be considered in our fight against misinformation.

scholarly journals Social media and vaccine hesitancy

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. e004206
Author(s):  
Steven Lloyd Wilson ◽  
Charles Wiysonge
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Vaccination Coverage ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Digital Society ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Society Project

BackgroundUnderstanding the threat posed by anti-vaccination efforts on social media is critically important with the forth coming need for world wide COVID-19 vaccination programs. We globally evaluate the effect of social media and online foreign disinformation campaigns on vaccination rates and attitudes towards vaccine safety.MethodsWeuse a large-n cross-country regression framework to evaluate the effect ofsocial media on vaccine hesitancy globally. To do so, we operationalize social media usage in two dimensions: the use of it by the public to organize action(using Digital Society Project indicators), and the level of negative lyoriented discourse about vaccines on social media (using a data set of all geocoded tweets in the world from 2018-2019). In addition, we measure the level of foreign-sourced coordinated disinformation operations on social media ineach country (using Digital Society Project indicators). The outcome of vaccine hesitancy is measured in two ways. First, we use polls of what proportion ofthe public per country feels vaccines are unsafe (using Wellcome Global Monitor indicators for 137 countries). Second, we use annual data of actual vaccination rates from the WHO for 166 countries.ResultsWe found the use of social media to organise offline action to be highly predictive of the belief that vaccinations are unsafe, with such beliefs mounting as more organisation occurs on social media. In addition, the prevalence of foreign disinformation is highly statistically and substantively significant in predicting a drop in mean vaccination coverage over time. A 1-point shift upwards in the 5-point disinformation scale is associated with a 2-percentage point drop in mean vaccination coverage year over year. We also found support for the connection of foreign disinformation with negative social media activity about vaccination. The substantive effect of foreign disinformation is to increase the number of negative vaccine tweets by 15% for the median country.ConclusionThere is a significant relationship between organisation on social media and public doubts of vaccine safety. In addition, there is a substantial relationship between foreign disinformation campaigns and declining vaccination coverage.

scholarly journals Physicians’ Experience with COVID-19 Vaccination: A Survey Study

Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1746
Author(s):  
Alina Dima ◽  
Ciprian Jurcut ◽  
Daniel Vasile Balaban ◽  
Valeriu Gheorghita ◽  
Ruxandra Jurcut ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Safety Profile ◽  
Vaccine Dose ◽  
Vaccine Safety ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Vaccination Rates ◽  
Additional Information

Background: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy remains high in the general population and is the main determinant of low vaccination rates and of the fourth pandemic wave severity in Romania. Additional information is needed to raise awareness over vaccine efficiency and the safety profile. Objective: To assess self-reported experience related to COVID-19 vaccination in Romanian physicians. Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire-based survey, distributed online in the period 24 March to 24 May 2021. The survey included 30 cascade questions with skip logic filters. All physicians included filled in the questionnaire voluntarily and anonymously. Not all respondents filled in all questions. Main outcome and measure: Primary outcomes addressed were related to the COVID-19 vaccine safety profile. Results: 407/467 (87.15%) of the respondents’ physicians were fully vaccinated, mostly with the Pfizer—BioNTech (Comirnaty)—BNT162b2 vaccine, with the peak of immunization in January 2021, with almost four-fifths of the study participants. Regarding COVID-19, almost 20% physicians had the infection and one declared COVID-19 re-infection. A number of 48/420 (11.42%) and 47/419 (11.22%) of the vaccinated physicians did not report any side effects after the first or second vaccine dose. However, most of the side effects reported were minor. Only 50/360 (13.88%) physicians reported the vaccine side effects on the dedicated online national platform. Approximately 40% respondents checked the anti-spike SARS-CoV2 antibodies’ titer after complete vaccination, of which two cases reported indeterminate levels. Lower anti-spike SARS-CoV2 antibodies’ titer of 100–1000 times the laboratory limit was more frequent in naive physicians (36.95% versus 14.28%, p = 0.012), moderate titers were similar, while very high levels, more than 10,000 times laboratory limit, were more frequent in physicians with previous COVID-19 infection (2.17% versus 42.85%, p < 0.001). Conclusions and relevance: In this cross-sectional survey study on the COVID-19 vaccination among Romanian physicians, we describe a safety vaccination profile among Romanian physicians.

Vaccine-Related Content, Dynamics, and Conspiracy Theories in External Links Shared in Twitter COVID-19 Conversations: A Computational Analysis (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Cruickshank ◽  
Tamar Ginossar ◽  
Jason Sulskis ◽  
Elena Zheleva ◽  
Tanya Berger-Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Latent Dirichlet Allocation ◽  
Topic Model ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Youtube Videos

BACKGROUND The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent “infodemic” that ensued highlighted the role that social media play in increasing vaccine hesitancy. Despite the efforts to curtail the spread of misinformation, the anti-vaccination movement continues to use Twitter and other social media platforms to advance its messages. Although users typically engage with different social media platforms, research on vaccination discourse typically focused on single platforms. Understanding the content and dynamics of external content shared on vaccine-related conversations on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic can shed light on the use of different sources, including traditional media and social media by the anti-vaccination movement. In particular, examining how YouTube videos are shared within vaccination-related tweets is important in understanding the spread of anti-vaccination narratives. OBJECTIVE informed by agenda-setting theory, this study aimed to use machine-learning to understand the content and dynamics of external websites shared in vaccines-related tweets posted in COVID-19 conversations on Twitter. METHODS We screened around 5 million tweets posted to COVID-19 related conversations to include tweets that discussed vaccination. We then identified external content, including the most tweeted web domains and URLs within these tweets and the number of days they were shared. The topics and dynamics of tweeted YouTube videos were further analyzed by using Latent Dirichlet Allocation to topic-model the transcripts of the YouTube videos, and by independent coders. RESULTS of 841,896 vaccination-related tweets identified, 128,408 (22.1%) included external content. A wide range of external websites were shared. The 20 most tweeted websites constituted 10.9% of the shared websites and were typically shared for only 2-3 days within a one-month period. Traditional media constituted the majority of these 20 most tweeted URLs. Content of YouTube links shared had both the greatest number of unique URLs for any given URL domain and was the most tweeted domain over time. The majority (n=15) of the 20 most tweeted videos opposed vaccinations and featured conspiracy theories. Analysis of the transcripts of 1,280 YouTube videos shared indicated high frequency of conspiracy theories. CONCLUSIONS Our study reveals that sharing URLs over Twitter is a common communication strategy. Whereas shared URLs overall demonstrated a strong presence of legacy media organizations, YouTube videos were used to spread anti-vaccination messages. Produced by individuals or by foreign governments, these videos emerged as a major driver for sharing vaccine-related conspiracy theories. Future interventions should take into account cross-platform use to counteract this misinformation.

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