COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit
Abstract Background Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions early in the vaccine timeline. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements, in the initial phases of the vaccine timeline. Meth...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2022-03-01
|
| Series: | BMC Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12824-7 |
| _version_ | 1819236740929421312 |
|---|---|
| author | Navin Kumar Isabel Corpus Meher Hans Nikhil Harle Nan Yang Curtis McDonald Shinpei Nakamura Sakai Kamila Janmohamed Keyu Chen Frederick L. Altice Weiming Tang Jason L. Schwartz S. Mo Jones-Jang Koustuv Saha Shahan Ali Memon Chris T. Bauch Munmun De Choudhury Orestis Papakyriakopoulos Joseph D. Tucker Abhay Goyal Aman Tyagi Kaveh Khoshnood Saad Omer |
| author_facet | Navin Kumar Isabel Corpus Meher Hans Nikhil Harle Nan Yang Curtis McDonald Shinpei Nakamura Sakai Kamila Janmohamed Keyu Chen Frederick L. Altice Weiming Tang Jason L. Schwartz S. Mo Jones-Jang Koustuv Saha Shahan Ali Memon Chris T. Bauch Munmun De Choudhury Orestis Papakyriakopoulos Joseph D. Tucker Abhay Goyal Aman Tyagi Kaveh Khoshnood Saad Omer |
| author_sort | Navin Kumar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions early in the vaccine timeline. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements, in the initial phases of the vaccine timeline. Methods We collected all posts on Reddit (reddit.com) from January 1 2020 - December 14 2020 (n=266,840) that contained both COVID-19 and vaccine-related keywords. We used topic modeling to understand changes in word prevalence within topics after the release of vaccine trial data. Social network analysis was also conducted to determine the relationship between Reddit communities (subreddits) that shared COVID-19 vaccine posts, and the movement of posts between subreddits. Results There was an association between a Pfizer press release reporting 90% efficacy and increased discussion on vaccine misinformation. We observed an association between Johnson and Johnson temporarily halting its vaccine trials and reduced misinformation. We found that information skeptical of vaccination was first posted in a subreddit (r/Coronavirus) which favored accurate information and then reposted in subreddits associated with antivaccine beliefs and conspiracy theories (e.g. conspiracy, NoNewNormal). Conclusions Our findings can inform the development of interventions where individuals determine the accuracy of vaccine information, and communications campaigns to improve COVID-19 vaccine perceptions, early in the vaccine timeline. Such efforts can increase individual- and population-level awareness of accurate and scientifically sound information regarding vaccines and thereby improve attitudes about vaccines, especially in the early phases of vaccine roll-out. Further research is needed to understand how social media can contribute to COVID-19 vaccination services. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:09:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d50a6f8b25404df59eb6ad043cb4be15 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T13:09:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-d50a6f8b25404df59eb6ad043cb4be152022-12-21T17:45:48ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582022-03-0122111410.1186/s12889-022-12824-7COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on redditNavin Kumar0Isabel Corpus1Meher Hans2Nikhil Harle3Nan Yang4Curtis McDonald5Shinpei Nakamura Sakai6Kamila Janmohamed7Keyu Chen8Frederick L. Altice9Weiming Tang10Jason L. Schwartz11S. Mo Jones-Jang12Koustuv Saha13Shahan Ali Memon14Chris T. Bauch15Munmun De Choudhury16Orestis Papakyriakopoulos17Joseph D. Tucker18Abhay Goyal19Aman Tyagi20Kaveh Khoshnood21Saad Omer22Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of MedicineYale CollegeYale CollegeYale CollegeDepartment of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public HealthDepartment of Statistics, Yale UniversityDepartment of Statistics, Yale UniversityYale CollegeSection of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of MedicineSection of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of MedicineUniversity of North Carolina Project-ChinaDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Yale School of Public HealthDepartment of Communications, Boston CollegeMicrosoft Research LabNew York UniversityDepartment of Applied Mathematics, University of WaterlooSchool of Interactive Computing, Georgia TechCenter for Information Technology Policy, Princeton UniversityUniversity of North Carolina Project-ChinaDepartment of Computer Science, Stony Brook UniversityEngineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public HealthYale Institute for Global HealthAbstract Background Open online forums like Reddit provide an opportunity to quantitatively examine COVID-19 vaccine perceptions early in the vaccine timeline. We examine COVID-19 misinformation on Reddit following vaccine scientific announcements, in the initial phases of the vaccine timeline. Methods We collected all posts on Reddit (reddit.com) from January 1 2020 - December 14 2020 (n=266,840) that contained both COVID-19 and vaccine-related keywords. We used topic modeling to understand changes in word prevalence within topics after the release of vaccine trial data. Social network analysis was also conducted to determine the relationship between Reddit communities (subreddits) that shared COVID-19 vaccine posts, and the movement of posts between subreddits. Results There was an association between a Pfizer press release reporting 90% efficacy and increased discussion on vaccine misinformation. We observed an association between Johnson and Johnson temporarily halting its vaccine trials and reduced misinformation. We found that information skeptical of vaccination was first posted in a subreddit (r/Coronavirus) which favored accurate information and then reposted in subreddits associated with antivaccine beliefs and conspiracy theories (e.g. conspiracy, NoNewNormal). Conclusions Our findings can inform the development of interventions where individuals determine the accuracy of vaccine information, and communications campaigns to improve COVID-19 vaccine perceptions, early in the vaccine timeline. Such efforts can increase individual- and population-level awareness of accurate and scientifically sound information regarding vaccines and thereby improve attitudes about vaccines, especially in the early phases of vaccine roll-out. Further research is needed to understand how social media can contribute to COVID-19 vaccination services.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12824-7COVID-19VaccineRedditComputationalMisinformation |
| spellingShingle | Navin Kumar Isabel Corpus Meher Hans Nikhil Harle Nan Yang Curtis McDonald Shinpei Nakamura Sakai Kamila Janmohamed Keyu Chen Frederick L. Altice Weiming Tang Jason L. Schwartz S. Mo Jones-Jang Koustuv Saha Shahan Ali Memon Chris T. Bauch Munmun De Choudhury Orestis Papakyriakopoulos Joseph D. Tucker Abhay Goyal Aman Tyagi Kaveh Khoshnood Saad Omer COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit BMC Public Health COVID-19 Vaccine Computational Misinformation |
| title | COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit |
| title_full | COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit |
| title_fullStr | COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit |
| title_full_unstemmed | COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit |
| title_short | COVID-19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of US vaccine roll-out: an observational study on reddit |
| title_sort | covid 19 vaccine perceptions in the initial phases of us vaccine roll out an observational study on reddit |
| topic | COVID-19 Vaccine Computational Misinformation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12824-7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT navinkumar covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT isabelcorpus covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT meherhans covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT nikhilharle covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT nanyang covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT curtismcdonald covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT shinpeinakamurasakai covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT kamilajanmohamed covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT keyuchen covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT fredericklaltice covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT weimingtang covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT jasonlschwartz covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT smojonesjang covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT koustuvsaha covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT shahanalimemon covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT christbauch covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT munmundechoudhury covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT orestispapakyriakopoulos covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT josephdtucker covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT abhaygoyal covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT amantyagi covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT kavehkhoshnood covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit AT saadomer covid19vaccineperceptionsintheinitialphasesofusvaccinerolloutanobservationalstudyonreddit |