A coordinated strategy to develop and distribute infographics addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation

Abstract

Background: Visual communication strategies are becoming increasingly prevalent for conveying information to health professionals as well as to the general public. The potential of social media for rapid knowledge dissemination using infographics was recognized early in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic by health professionals. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe a coalition of health professionals' approach to developing infographics about COVID-19 vaccines and the reach and engagement of those infographics when shared through social media. Methods: Infographics were created by a core team within the coalition following a stepwise approach. Each underwent a multistep review process, readability evaluation, and translation into Spanish. Infographics were then shared through multiple social media platforms. They were grouped into 1 of 3 categories for this analysis: COVID-19 vaccine series, myth debunkers, or other. Results: All infographics had greater outreach, impressions, and engagement on Twitter than they did on other platforms. When comparing the 3 groups, no 1 infographic type was consistently performing higher than the others. Conclusion: Each infographic reached thousands to tens of thousands of people. We do not know whether those who viewed these infographics changed their perspective on vaccination, so we are unable to draw a conclusion about their impact on vaccine hesitancy based on this study alone.

Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccines on Social Media: Rapid Review

“…Of the 45 included studies, 18 (40%) studies reported misinformation across all 3 categories [ 27 - 29 , 35 - 37 , 45 , 48 , 49 , 51 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 60 - 62 , 67 , 68 ], 9 (20%) studies reported only on conspiracies [ 26 , 30 , 33 , 42 , 44 , 46 , 53 , 54 , 56 ], 6 (13%) studies were concerned specifically with medical misinformation [ 25 , 34 , 38 , 43 , 63 , 64 ], and 12 (27%) studies reported on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or antivaccine discourse without going into further detail [ 31 , 35 , 39 - 41 , 47 , 52 , 59 , 65 , 66 , 69 ].…”

“…We identified 19 studies that made assumptions regarding the effects of social media misinformation on vaccine hesitancy ( Table 3 ). The evaluation of the certainty of evidence of these 19 studies that measured the “Association between social media misinformation and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy” was classified as moderate or low to moderate according to GRADE in 2 cases [ 38 , 65 ]. For the rest of the studies, the certainty of evidence according to GRADE was considered low or very low.…”

“…The 2 studies with a higher certainty of evidence had an experimental design. Rotolo et al [ 65 ] aimed to develop and distribute infographics that addressed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. Although their infographics reached thousands of people, they were unable to determine the impact on vaccine hesitancy.…”

Use of Twitter Amplifiers by Medical Professionals to Combat Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…For example, within the IMPACT amplifier, a member might share a piece of disinformation that they feel could be better addressed with more nuance in an infographic or a video. This can then be escalated to the team within the coalition developing Myth Buster infographics [ 23 ], following the Fact, Myth, Fallacy, Fact refutation strategy for combating misinformation, popularized by climate change activists and described in The Debunking Handbook [ 24 ]. Other groups such as No License For Disinformation use their own amplifier to facilitate group discussion, identify misinformation, and alert the public and platforms that content is incorrect [ 25 ].…”

Knowing Well, Being Well: well-being born of understanding: The Urgent Need for Coordinated and Comprehensive Efforts to Combat Misinformation

“…Interestingly, our partner organization IMPACT4HC adopted a geography-first approach to fighting the infodemic, bringing together a coalition of Chicago-based health care providers, and have found that their place-based infodemic management efforts have yielded appreciable online spillovers. 11 …”