Vaccine hesitancy is gaining attention due to the increasing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Malaysia is a majority Muslim country and religion has a significant influence on the acceptance or rejection of vaccines. This is clearly seen through the disagreement over the halal status of vaccines. Social media has become a platform for discussion and dissemination of information and dis-information on vaccines. Thus, it has had a relatively significant influence on vaccine hesitancy among social media users. By analysing tweets from February 2020 to February 2021 using Twitter API, this paper highlights the discussion of COVID-19 vaccines’ halal status on Twitter. This study focuses on the analysis of vaccination reluctancy among the Twitter users in Malaysia and found that the most prevalent theme from the discussion is the constructed religious narratives to justify scientifically misleading and false claims concerning vaccination represented on social media. This finding also calls for a deeper understanding of society’s constructed knowledge concerning contemporary issues in the digital age on social media.
K-pop is a relatively new genre but its fanbase has grown massively in Malaysia for the past few decades. It is also evident that the daily lives of Malaysians have incorporated Korean culture in various social aspects. Thus, this study seeks to explore the well-being of local K-pop fans by underlining the objective to understand the meaning of being a K-pop fan. In order to describe and analyse the social nuances of the well-being being a K-pop fan, several concepts from sociology as well as fan studies were plotted to assist this research such as para-social relationship, identity and social identity, the concept of meaning as well as participatory culture. A qualitative approach was employed by using participant observation and semi-structured indepth interviews to get into the experiences, views, values, and lifestyles of K-pop fans. Participant observation was conducted in K-pop concerts and fan events to observe fan practices. As for the semi-structured in-depth interview, a total number of eight participants were selected to provide an understanding of K-pop fan's well-being through their experiences and feelings. This study concludes that being a K-pop fan carries its special meaning that transcends a fan of a music genre. It varies from providing a platform for escapism as well as emotional and motivational support through a para-social relationship. Although fan and idol is usually seen as one-sided relationship, it has benefitted the fan's well-being in some way. This study also proves that the fans can also be seen as active producers and content creators which contradict to the notion of fan as a passive entity.
The increasing spread of infectious diseases in Malaysia has resulted the topic of vaccine acceptance and rejection is gaining traction in academia. the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly has manifested the never-ending debate of the topic of immunisation both academically and in public discourse. Thus, it is appropriate and timely to delve deeper into the ideas, norms, and values that influence people's health preferences and behaviour, particularly in vaccination. This study concerns on the perceived and actual vaccine knowledge of Generation Y Malays aged 25 to 40 years old in Pulau Pinang. It is critical to understand the public discussion vaccines within the framework of social interactionhow vaccines are portrayed and publicly understood. A pilot study was conducted prior to this to evaluate the procedure for participant recruitment, the data collection processes and the usability of the survey questionnaire. The improvements made to the instrument and methodology before beginning the main research study on vaccine knowledge among Malaysians in Pulau Pinang were made in an attempt to contribute to the body of research in this area.
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