Revealing public opinion towards COVID-19 vaccines with Twitter data in the United States: a spatiotemporal perspective (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Hu ◽  
Siqin Wang ◽  
Wei Luo ◽  
Mengxi Zhang ◽  
Xiao Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Trends ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Events

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a large, initially uncontrollable, public health crisis both in the US and across the world, with experts looking to vaccines as the ultimate mechanism of defense. The development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines have been rapidly advancing via global efforts. Hence, it is crucial for governments, public health officials, and policy makers to understand public attitudes and opinions towards vaccines, such that effective interventions and educational campaigns can be designed to promote vaccine acceptance OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to investigate public opinion and perception on COVID-19 vaccines by investigating the spatiotemporal trends of their sentiment and emotion towards vaccines, as well as how such trends relate to popular topics on Twitter in the US METHODS We collected over 300,000 geotagged tweets in the US from March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. We examined the spatiotemporal patterns of public sentiment and emotion over time at both national and state scales and identified three phases along the pandemic timeline with the significant changes of public sentiment and emotion, further linking to eleven key events and major topics as the potential drivers to induce such changes via cloud mapping of keywords and topic modelling RESULTS An increasing trend of positive sentiment in parallel with the decrease of negative sentiment are generally observed in most states, reflecting the rising confidence and anticipation of the public towards vaccines. The overall tendency of the eight types of emotion implies the trustiness and anticipation of the public to vaccination, accompanied by the mixture of fear, sadness and anger. Critical social/international events and/or the announcements of political leaders and authorities may have potential impacts on the public opinion on vaccines. These factors, along with important topics and manual reading of popular posts on eleven key events, help identify underlying themes and validate insights from the analysis CONCLUSIONS The analyses of near real-time social media big data benefit public health authorities by enabling them to monitor public attitudes and opinions towards vaccine-related information in a geo-aware manner, address the concerns of vaccine skeptics and promote the confidence of individuals within a certain region or community, towards vaccines

scholarly journals Revealing public opinion towards COVID-19 vaccines using Twitter data in the United States: a spatiotemporal perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Hu ◽  
Siqin Wang ◽  
Wei Luo ◽  
Yingwei Yan ◽  
Mengxi Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Spatiotemporal Trends ◽  
The Us ◽  
Key Events

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a large, initially uncontrollable, public health crisis both in the United States (US) and across the world, with experts looking to vaccines as the ultimate mechanism of defense. The development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines have been rapidly advancing via global efforts. Hence, it is crucial for governments, public health officials, and policy makers to understand public attitudes and opinions towards vaccines, such that effective interventions and educational campaigns can be designed to promote vaccine acceptance. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate public opinion and perception on COVID-19 vaccines by investigating the spatiotemporal trends of their sentiment and emotion towards vaccines, as well as how such trends relate to popular topics on Twitter in the US. Methods: We collected over 300,000 geotagged tweets in the US from March 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. We examined the spatiotemporal patterns of public sentiment and emotion over time at both national and state scales and identified three phases along the pandemic timeline with the significant changes of public sentiment and emotion. We further linked the changes to eleven key events and major topics as the potential drivers to induce such changes via cloud mapping of keywords and topic modeling. Results: An increasing trend of positive sentiment in parallel with the decrease of negative sentiment are generally observed in most states, reflecting the rising confidence and anticipation of the public towards COVID-19 vaccines. The overall tendency of the eight types of emotion implies the trustiness and anticipation of the public to vaccination, accompanied by the mixture of fear, sadness and anger. Critical social/international events and/or the announcements of political leaders and authorities may have potential impacts on the public opinion on vaccines. These factors, along with important topics and manual reading of popular posts on eleven key events, help identify underlying themes and validate insights from the analysis. Conclusions: The analyses of near real-time social media big data benefit public health authorities by enabling them to monitor public attitudes and opinions towards vaccine-related information in a geo-aware manner, address the concerns of vaccine skeptics and promote the confidence of individuals within a certain region or community, towards vaccines.

The Emergence of COVID-19 in the US: A Public Health and Political Communication Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 967-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Rebekah H. Nagler ◽  
Erika Franklin Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us

Abstract The coronavirus public health crisis is also a political-communication and health-communication crisis. In this article, the authors describe the key communication-related phenomena and evidence of concerning effects manifested in the United States during the initial response to the pandemic. The authors outline the conditions of communication about coronavirus that contribute to deleterious outcomes, including partisan cueing, conflicting science, downplayed threats, emotional arousal, fragmented media, and Trump's messaging. The authors suggest these have contributed to divergent responses by media sources, partisan leaders, and the public alike, leading to different attitudes and beliefs as well as varying protective actions taken by members of the public to reduce their risk. In turn, these divergent communication phenomena will likely amplify geographic variation in and inequities with COVID-19 disease outcomes. The authors conclude with some suggestions for future research, particularly surrounding communication about health inequity and strategies for reducing partisan divergence in views of public health issues in the future.

Curating the Evidence About COVID-19 for Frontline Public Health and Clinical Care: The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492110587
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Redd ◽  
Lauren S. Peetluk ◽  
Brooke A. Jarrett ◽  
Colleen Hanrahan ◽  
Sheree Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Successful Model ◽  
Medical Response ◽  
Public Consumption ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a deluge of scientific research aimed at informing the public health and medical response to the pandemic. However, early in the pandemic, those working in frontline public health and clinical care had insufficient time to parse the rapidly evolving evidence and use it for decision-making. Academics in public health and medicine were well-placed to translate the evidence for use by frontline clinicians and public health practitioners. The Novel Coronavirus Research Compendium (NCRC), a group of >60 faculty and trainees across the United States, formed in March 2020 with the goal to quickly triage and review the large volume of preprints and peer-reviewed publications on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 and summarize the most important, novel evidence to inform pandemic response. From April 6 through December 31, 2020, NCRC teams screened 54 192 peer-reviewed articles and preprints, of which 527 were selected for review and uploaded to the NCRC website for public consumption. Most articles were peer-reviewed publications (n = 395, 75.0%), published in 102 journals; 25.1% (n = 132) of articles reviewed were preprints. The NCRC is a successful model of how academics translate scientific knowledge for practitioners and help build capacity for this work among students. This approach could be used for health problems beyond COVID-19, but the effort is resource intensive and may not be sustainable in the long term.

scholarly journals Differential impact of non-pharmaceutical public health interventions on COVID-19 epidemics in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoshuang Liu ◽  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Guanqiao Li ◽  
Xian Xu ◽  
Yuyao Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Individualized Decision

Abstract Background: The widespread pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses an unprecedented global health crisis. In the United States (US), different state governments have adopted various combinations of non-pharmaceutical public health interventions (NPIs), such as non-essential business closures and gathering bans, to mitigate the epidemic from February to April, 2020. Quantitative assessment on the effectiveness of NPIs is greatly needed to assist in guiding individualized decision making for adjustment of interventions in the US and around the world. However, the impacts of these approaches remain uncertain.Methods: Based on the reported cases, the effective reproduction number (Rt) of COVID-19 epidemic for 50 states in the US was estimated. Measurements on the effectiveness of nine different NPIs were conducted by assessing risk ratios (RRs) between R t and NPIs through a generalized linear model (GLM). Results: Different NPIs were found to have led to different levels of reduction in Rt. Stay-at-home contributed approximately 51% (95% CI 46%-57%), wearing (face) masks 29% (15%-42%), gathering ban (more than 10 people) 19% (14%-24%), non-essential business closure 16% (10%-21%), declaration of emergency 13% (8%-17%), interstate travel restriction 11% (5%-16%), school closure 10% (7%-14%), initial business closure 10% (6%-14%), and gathering ban (more than 50 people) 7% (2%-11%).Conclusions: This retrospective assessment of NPIs on Rt has shown that NPIs played critical roles on epidemic control in the US in the past several months. The quantitative results could guide individualized decision making for future adjustment of NPIs in the US and other countries for COVID-19 and other similar infectious diseases.

scholarly journals Anticipating emerging arboviruses: What comes after Zika?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle V. Evans ◽  
Courtney C. Murdock ◽  
John M. Drake
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Statistical Techniques ◽  
Public Health Community ◽  
Vector Borne Diseases ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Partially Observed ◽  
The Us ◽  
Vector Borne

AbstractNew vector-borne diseases have emerged on multiple occasions over the last several decades, raising fears that they may become established within the United States. Here, we provide a watchlist of flaviviruses with high potential to emerge in the US, identified using new statistical techniques for mining the associations in partially observed data, to allow the public health community to better target surveillance.

Public Policy Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Blood Supply in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e7
Author(s):  
William Riley ◽  
Kailey Love ◽  
Jeffrey McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Blood Supply ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Preparedness Planning ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an acute blood shortage for medical transfusions, exacerbating an already tenuous blood supply system in the United States, contributing to the public health crisis, and raising deeper questions regarding emergency preparedness planning for ensuring blood availability. However, these issues around blood availability during the pandemic are related primarily to the decline in supply caused by reduced donations during the pandemic rather than increased demand for transfusion of patients with COVID-19. The challenges to ensure a safe blood supply during the pandemic will continue until a vaccine is developed, effective treatments are available, or the virus goes away. If this virus or a similar virus were capable of transmission through blood, it would have a catastrophic impact on the health care system, causing a future public health emergency that would jeopardize the national blood supply. In this article, we identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood supply adequacy, discuss the public health implications, propose recovery strategies, and present recommendations for preparing for the next disruption in blood supply driven by a public health emergency. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 18, 2021: e1–e7. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306157 )

scholarly journals Community Pharmacists Roles During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 089719002098062
Author(s):  
Karl Hess ◽  
Albert Bach ◽  
Kimberly Won ◽  
Sheila M. Seed
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us

The aim of this paper is to review the roles that community pharmacists in the United States (US) can play to support public health measures during the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic (COVID-19). Community pharmacists in the US are highly visible and accessible to the public and have long been regarded as a source for immunization services as well as other public health activities. In the US, the scope of pharmacy practice continues to expand and incorporate various health services on a state-by-state level. For the purposes of this article, a PubMed literature search was undertaken to identify published articles on SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, pharmacist- and pharmacy-based immunization and other public health care activities in the US in order to identify and discuss roles that community pharmacists can play during this pandemic including as vaccinators, screeners and testers. In conclusion, community pharmacists are knowledgeable and capable providers of public health services and are easily accessible and well regarded by the public. The incorporation of community pharmacists into this nation’s COVID-19 pandemic response plan can help aid recovery efforts in the US.

scholarly journals An Alzheimer’s Curriculum to Educate the Current and Future Public Health Workforce

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 9-10
Author(s):  
Taylor Kennedy ◽  
Molly French ◽  
Linelle Blais ◽  
Nia Reed
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Schools Of Public Health

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death among adults in the United States and the 5th leading cause for those aged 65 and older. Nearly 14 million Americans will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia by 2060, but the public health workforce is struggling to meet current demands. As the older adult population continues to grow, the public health sector will need to ensure a sizable and competent workforce is prepared to meet the needs of those living with dementia as well as their caregivers. In support of national efforts to promote and ensure a competent workforce, the Alzheimer’s Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Emory University developed “A Public Health Approach to Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias” (ADOD) curriculum. The free, introductory curricular resource was first piloted by faculty and students at undergraduate schools of public health across the country; however, due to its broad applicability the curriculum has since been updated and expanded to educate graduate students in schools of public health, students in related disciplines, and practicing public health professionals. The curriculum provides an introduction to ADOD as a public health crisis, basics of dementia, the role of public health in addressing the epidemic, and the creation of dementia-friendly communities. The purpose of the curriculum is to educate future public health workforces about ADOD; encourage the current public health workforce to apply knowledge to practice; and seek to improve health outcomes for those living with dementia, as well as their caregivers.

scholarly journals Tweeting about twenty: an analysis of interest, public sentiments and opinion about 20mph speed restrictions in two UK cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tushar Semwal ◽  
Karen Milton ◽  
Ruth Jepson ◽  
Michael P. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Speed Limit ◽  
Speed Limits ◽  
The Public ◽  
Twitter Data ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Speed Restrictions

Abstract Background Twenty miles per hour (20mph) speed limits (equivalent to roughly 30kmh) have become part of public health policies to reduce urban road collisions and casualties, especially in Western countries. Public opinion plays a crucial role in opposition to and acceptance of policies that are advocated for improving public health. Twenty miles per hour speed limit policies were implemented in Edinburgh and Belfast from 2016 to 2018. In this paper, we extract public opinion and sentiments expressed about the new 20mph speed limits in those cities using publicly available Twitter data. Methods We analysed public sentiments from Twitter data and classified the public comments in plain English into the categories ‘positive’, ‘neutral’, and ‘negative’. We also explored the frequency and sources of the tweets. Results The total volume of tweets was higher for Edinburgh than for Belfast, but the volume of tweets followed a similar pattern, peaking around 2016, which is when the schemes were implemented. Overall, the tone of the tweets was positive or neutral towards the implementation of the speed limit policies. This finding was surprising as there is a perception among policymakers that there would have been public backlash against these sorts of policy changes. The commonly used hashtags focused largely on road safety and other potential benefits, for example to air pollution. Conclusions Overall, public attitudes towards the policies were positive, thus policymakers should be less anxious about potential public backlash when considering the scale-up of 20mph speed restrictions.

scholarly journals Elusive consensus: Polarization in elite communication on the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (28) ◽  
pp. eabc2717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Green ◽  
Jared Edgerton ◽  
Daniel Naftel ◽  
Kelsey Shoub ◽  
Skyler J. Cranmer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Behavioral Change ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
The Public ◽  
Early Reaction ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Cues sent by political elites are known to influence public attitudes and behavior. Polarization in elite rhetoric may hinder effective responses to public health crises, when accurate information and rapid behavioral change can save lives. We examine polarization in cues sent to the public by current members of the U.S. House and Senate during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, measuring polarization as the ability to correctly classify the partisanship of tweets’ authors based solely on the text and the dates they were sent. We find that Democrats discussed the crisis more frequently–emphasizing threats to public health and American workers–while Republicans placed greater emphasis on China and businesses. Polarization in elite discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic peaked in mid-February—weeks after the first confirmed case in the United States—and continued into March. These divergent cues correspond with a partisan divide in the public’s early reaction to the crisis.

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