Analysis of Facebook publications and comments about ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to analyze Facebook publications and perceptions of users, expressed in their comments, about the drug ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. The publications and their comments were selected by manual search using the terms “ivermectin” and “#ivermectin” in July 2020. Interpretation of publications and their comments was performed by conventional qualitative content analysis with inductive processing and supported by scientific literature. A total 17 publications were retrieved from the period extending from 18 May to 7 July 2020. These were classified into five topics rumors (58.8%), based on scientific evidence (11.8%), caution (11.8%), production of the drug (11.8%) and confrontation (5.9%). Paradoxically, 70.0% of the rumors were spread by mass media pages. Comments, on the other hand, were classified into four topics based on user perceptions ivermectin as “effective cure” (64.8%), request for information about ivermectin (25.3%), against the use of ivermectin (6.3%) and other treatments (3.6%). As a conclusion, it was found that more than half of the information about ivermectin circulating in Facebook publications is classified as “rumors”, and most is spread by mass media pages. Analysis of the comments found that user perception considers ivermectin to be the “effective cure” against COVID-19. © 2022, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.