The Relationship between Searches for COVID-19 Vaccines and Dynamics of Vaccinated People in Poland: An Infodemiological Study.

BACKGROUND: Google Trends has turned out to be an appropriate tool for evaluating correlations and prognostic modelling regarding infectious diseases. The possibility of selecting a vaccine against COVID-19 has increased social interest in particular vaccines. The objective of this study was to show dependencies between the frequency of searches for COVID-19 vaccinations and the number of vaccinated people in Poland, along with epidemiological data. METHODS: Data were collected regarding Google searches for COVID-19 vaccines, the number of people in Poland vaccinated against COVID-19, the number of new cases, and the number of deaths due to COVID-19. Data were filtered from 27 December 2020 to 1 September 2021. RESULTS: The number of new vaccinations smoothed per million correlated most strongly with searches for the word 'Pfizer' in Google Trends (Kendall's tau = 0.46, p < 0.001). The number of new deaths correlated most strongly with the search phrase 'AstraZeneca' (Kendall's tau = 0.46, p < 0.001). The number of new cases per million correlated most strongly with searches for 'AstraZeneca' (Kendall's tau = 0.49, p < 0.001). The maximum daily number of searches ranged between 110 and 130. A significant interest in COVID-19 vaccines was observed from February to June 2021, i.e., in the period of a considerable increase in the number of new cases and new deaths due to COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: A significant increase in interest in COVID-19 vaccines was observed from February to June 2021, i.e., in the period of gradually extended access to vaccinations, as well as a considerable increase in the number of new cases and new deaths due to COVID-19. The use of Google Trends with relevant keywords and a comparison with the course of the COVID-19 pandemic facilitates evaluation of the relationship between the frequency and types of searches for COVID-19 vaccines and epidemiological data.

Online Information of COVID-19: Visibility and Characterization of Highest Positioned Websites by Google between March and April 2020-A Cross-Country Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The WHO has used the term "infodemic" to describe the vast amount of false and true information that was making it difficult for people to find reliable information when they needed it. The infodemic spreads faster than COVID-19 itself. The main objective of the study was to characterize and analyze content about COVID-19 returned by Google during the pandemic and compare it between countries. METHODS: The study was conducted between 30 March and 27 April 2020. The information was searched through local Google websites using the "COVID-19", "Coronavirus", "SARS-CoV-2" and "fake news" keywords. The search was conducted in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Singapore, Spain, UK and the USA. The total number of the analyzed webpages was 685. RESULTS: The most frequent types were News websites 47% (324/685) and Governmental 19% (131/685) while the least were Health portals 2% (17/685) and Scientific journals 5% (35/635), p < 0.001. United States and Australia had the highest share of Governmental websites. There was a positive correlation between the amount of preventive information and a number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in countries. The higher the number of tests performed, the higher was the amount of information about prevention available online. CONCLUSIONS: Online information is usually available on news and government websites and refers to prevention. There were differences between countries in types of information available online. The highest positioned (the first 20) websites for COVID-19, Coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 keywords returned by Google include true information.