"I'm Off My Meds": Public Perception of Interactions Between SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines and Anti-Psoriatic Treatments Online.

IMPORTANCE: Psoriasis patients may seek information about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and their diagnosis from social media platforms. Analyses of social media interactions may help guide dermatologists’ educational efforts during this pandemic. OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the content and sentiment of online social media posts about the medication interaction between SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and anti-psoriatic therapies among psoriasis patients. DESIGN: Publicly accessible Facebook and Reddit groups regarding psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were identified. Posts uploaded between March 1, 2021, and July 31, 2021, with information about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, were extracted. Themes, sentiment scores, and engagement scores were assigned to each post. RESULTS: 477 posts contained content pertaining to the vaccine and psoriatic medications. 19 (4%) of the posts contain negative sentiment, 232 (48.6%) contain neutral sentiment, and 226 (47.4%) contain positive sentiment. Several themes emerged from this study. A majority of posts (32.5%) contained concerns about holding or stopping medications prior to obtaining the vaccine. Other common concerns included fear of negative reaction (21.8%) and uncertainty about the ability to generate an efficient immune response to the vaccine while on anti-psoriatic medications (19.9%). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Concerns identified by our content analysis should be incorporated into education efforts to address the reasons for vaccine hesitancy among patients with psoriatic diseases. These patient concerns can also help guide our strategy for implementing evidence-based recommendations on COVID-19 vaccination. J Drugs Dermatol. 2022;21(8):901-905. doi:10.36849/JDD.6853.

Public Perception of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Among Psoriasis Patients in Social Media: Content, Sentiment, and Engagement Analysis

BackgroundPsoriasis patients may seek information about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and their disease from social media platforms. Analyses of social media interactions may help guide dermatologists? educational efforts during this pandemic.ObjectivesThis study analyzes social media interactions among patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis regarding the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to determine the misinformation circulating and the apprehension to receiving the vaccine.MethodsPublicly accessible Facebook and Reddit groups regarding psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis were identified. Posts uploaded between March 1, 2021 and July 31, 2021 which contained information about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine were extracted. First-order themes, sub-themes, sentiment scores and engagement scores were assigned to each post.Results345 posts within the first-order theme of vaccination decision and 1379 posts within the first-order theme of vaccine reaction were analyzed. Within vaccination decision, common sub-themes for refusing the vaccine include fear of psoriasis flare up, vaccine is experimental, vaccine is unnecessary, vaccine is dangerous, and concern for reaction/vaccine efficacy while on psoriasis medications. 41.4% of posts contained positive sentiment;whereas, 38.3% contained negative sentiment. Within vaccine reaction, common sub-themes identified were no change to psoriasis, skin/joint flare up, skin flare up attributed specifically to stopping psoriasis medications, skin/joint improvement, and skin flare up but vaccine was worth it. 77.8% of posts contained positive sentiment;whereas, 6.2% contained negative sentiment.ConclusionsOur study identified common SARS-CoV-2 vaccine concerns within the psoriasis community which should be used to guide educational efforts.