Not just conspiracy theories: Vaccine opponents and proponents add to the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ on Twitter

Abstract

In February 2020, the World Health Organization announced an ‘infodemic’ -- a deluge of both accurate and inaccurate health information -- that accompanied the global pandemic of COVID-19 as a major challenge to effective health communication. We assessed content from the most active vaccine accounts on Twitter to understand how existing online communities contributed to the ‘infodemic’ during the early stages of the pandemic. While we expected vaccine opponents to share misleading information about COVID-19, we also found vaccine proponents were not immune to spreading less reliable claims. In both groups, the single largest topic of discussion consisted of nar-ratives comparing COVID-19 to other diseases like seasonal influenza, often downplaying the severi-ty of the novel coronavirus. When considering the scope of the ‘infodemic,’ researchers and health communicators must move beyond focusing on known bad actors and the most egregious types of misinformation to scrutinize the full spectrum of information -- from both reliable and unreliable sources -- that the public is likely to encounter online.

Infodemic Pathways: Evaluating the Role That Traditional and Social Media Play in Cross-National Information Transfer

“…An infodemic can spread through a variety of information channels. It can be shared through traditional media where journalists, politicians, or thought leaders adopt inaccurate and misleading positions (e.g., Jamison et al, 2020). It can also be spread via peer-to-peer transmission, with rumors and unfounded conspiracies often accompanying pandemics (e.g., for HIV and AIDS see Smith et al, 1999) and issues of health more generally (e.g., on vaccines Larson, 2020).…”

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination among Front-Line Health Care Workers: A Nationwide Survey of Emergency Medical Services Personnel from Germany

“…On the Internet, and especially on social media, vaccination opponents spread misinformation. This circumstance can generally lead to a reduction in the willingness to be vaccinated [ 28 , 29 , 48 , 49 , 50 ]. It has been widely disseminated that COVID-19 vaccination has effects on fertility in childbearing young women.…”

“…It is claimed that vaccination could negatively affect fertility in women. Other claims are that its infection is possible despite vaccination, an mRNA vaccine manipulates the human genome, a vaccination can trigger a tumor disease, private interests play a major role in the development of a vaccine, and many more [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy on English-language Twitter

“…This study did not focus on Covid-19, which accounted for a quarter of the posts. In the USA, active anti-vaxxers on Twitter share three times as much misinformation as active pro-vaccination tweeters, with both sides frequently comparing Covid-19 campaigns to prior initiatives for other diseases (Jamison et al, 2020).…”