How Vaccination Rumours Spread Online: Tracing the Dissemination of Information Regarding Adverse Events of COVID-19 Vaccines.
Int J Public Health
; 67: 1604228, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1903250
ABSTRACT
Objectives:
To trace the emergence and dissemination of the most prominent rumours about potential adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines.Methods:
We use a weekly Google Trends search to gather information about what alleged adverse events are being associated with COVID vaccines by the general population. We then use CrowdTangle and Factiva searches to examine how discussions about the five most prominent adverse events have spread through traditional media channels and Facebook.Results:
Traditional mass media reporting remains crucial in both promoting and moderating discussions around alleged adverse events. While some cases illustrate that social media networks can synthesise and amplify rumours about adverse events, traditional media coverage remains crucial as a forum for exploring and debunking spurious claims.Conclusion:
Traditional media stories still bear signficant responsibility as credibility markers for rumours about vaccine adverse events. Journalists should therefore be encouraged to be particularly earnest when reporting such stories, and the scientific community should aid journalists in this task by clearly responding to any rumours emerging online.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vaccination
/
Information Dissemination
/
Social Media
/
COVID-19 Vaccines
/
COVID-19
/
Disinformation
Type of study:
Observational study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Int J Public Health
Journal subject:
Public Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijph.2022.1604228
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