Spanish Facebook Posts as an Indicator of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Texas.

Vaccination represents a major public health intervention intended to protect against COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. However, vaccine hesitancy due to misinformation/disinformation, especially among ethnic minority groups, negatively impacts the effectiveness of such an intervention. The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of how information gleaned from social media can be used to improve attitudes toward vaccination and decrease vaccine hesitancy. This work focused on Spanish-language posts, and will highlight the relationship between vaccination rates across different Texas counties and the sentiment and emotional content of Facebook data, the most popular platform among the Hispanic population. The analysis of this valuable dataset indicates that vaccination rates among this minority group are negatively correlated with negative sentiment and fear, meaning that a higher prevalence of negative and fearful posts indicates lower vaccination rates in these counties. This first study investigating vaccine hesitancy in the Hispanic population suggests that observation of social media can be a valuable tool for measuring attitudes toward public health interventions.

Your Tweets Matter: How Social Media Sentiments Associate with COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in the US.

Objective: The aims of the study were to examine the association between social media sentiments surrounding COVID-19 vaccination and the effects on vaccination rates in the United States (US), as well as other contributing factors to the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Method: The dataset used in this study consists of vaccine-related English tweets collected in real-time from January 4 - May 11, 2021, posted within the US, as well as health literacy (HL), social vulnerability index (SVI), and vaccination rates at the state level. Results: The findings presented in this study demonstrate a significant correlation between the sentiments of the tweets and the vaccination rate in the US. The results also suggest a significant negative association between HL and SVI and that the state demographics correlate with both HL and SVI. Discussion: Social media activity provides insights into public opinion about vaccinations and helps determine the required public health interventions to increase the vaccination rate in the US. Conclusion: Health literacy, social vulnerability index and monitoring of social media sentiments need to be considered in public health interventions as part of vaccination campaigns.