Conflicting attitudes: Analyzing social media data to understand the early discourse on COVID-19 passports

Abstract

In several countries, vaccine passports are being encouraged to hasten the return to some form of normalcy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine passport is a digital or paper document that may serve as proof of the COVID-19 vaccine, thereby allowing entry to public venues, sporting events, air travel, and unrestricted access to other facilities. This study explores how the COVID-19 passport is being discussed and perceived on Twitter and the prominent entities involved in the early discourse on the issue. Twitter messages were theoretically analyzed for Health Belief Model (HBM) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) variables, as well as message source, engagement, and attitudes towards vaccination certificates. Using quantitative content analysis, tweets were coded on nine dimensions: account type, tweeter profile, tweet content, tweet modality, attitude, self-efficacy, perceived barriers, benefits, and action cues. Most of the tweets originated from personal accounts, followed by media organizations, media-related personalities, politicians, and the travel industry. A significant number of tweets were from male Twitter users. Our analysis revealed that most tweeters had a favorable attitude towards the COVID-19 passports. Unfavorable attitudes toward the COVID-19 passport were based on reasons such as a lack of common standard or consensus, and personal freedoms & human rights. Tweets highlighting the benefits of COVID-19 passports cited travel as the primary reason. Based on a combination of technical, legal, and ethical practices, our study offers a set of vital recommendations for governments, health organizations, and businesses that may help stimulate the acceptance of vaccine passports.

Factors associated with the opposition to COVID-19 vaccination certificates: A multi-country observational study from Asia

“…Studies have found a correlation between a favourable attitude towards CVCs and the desire to travel [ 11 , 20 ]. Hence, by including a variable on travel plans in 2021, we hypothesised that people who had no travel plans in 2021 would be more likely to oppose CVCs as they are less likely to have utility and benefit from having it.…”

“…Both NPIs and CVCs have been viewed as restrictive policies that violate human rights [ 11 ]. Hence, we included a variable on whether existing NPIs (such as social distancing, mask wearing, testing, quarantine) should continue in their own country and hypothesised that people opposing existing NPIs are also more likely to oppose CVCs as they prohibit freedom of movement for the unvaccinated.…”

“…CVCs are being used for several purposes including employment, entry into events, travel, etc [ 5 ]. Previous studies have found support for CVCs to ease foreign travel [ 11 , 20 ] as well as for maintaining safe work environments [ 17 ]. Hence, we included the scenarios under which CVCs are used (i.e., purpose of CVCs) to assess if they affect people's attitudes towards CVCs.…”

“…It is apparent by now that COVID-19 cannot be eliminated, and therefore use of CVCs will remain for the foreseeable future [ 9 ]. However, global or regional adoption of CVCs is plagued by challenges such as mistrust in governments, implementation hurdles, and the lack of common policy [ 4 , 10 , 11 ]. Further, vaccine inequity particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) [ 12 ] and vaccine hesitancy may hinder vaccination and therefore, wider adoption of CVCs.…”

Immunity debt or vaccination crisis? A multi-method evidence on vaccine acceptance and media framing for emerging COVID-19 variants

“…Vaccine hesitancy is a problem nearly as old as vaccines themselves, and in recent years, scholars from multiple disciplines have taken a new interest in this topic [5] . Pakistan is a notable case with respect to vaccine hesitancy because it remains one of two remaining countries where polio has not been eliminated [6] .…”