The Impact of Social Media on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance: Data Analytic Approach

Abstract

There is still a great deal of vaccination hesitancy among different populations in the U.S. including health workers, government officials, minorities and marginalized communities. The politicization of the COVID-19 issue made it difficult to contain the infection and led to an increase in the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories on the internet and social media. Misinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccine hindered efforts to fight the disease and continue to impact measures to contain the pandemic. In this paper, we examine the factors impacting vaccine hesitancy and acceptance in the United States. Data collected from CDC website and Twitter hashtags, #COVIDvaccines was analyzed, and the results have shown that vaccine hesitancy is largely influenced by personal opinion rather than scientific knowledge. Safety and side effect was the major impacting factor followed by misinformation and conspiracy theories. 
 ALISE RESEARCH TAXONOMY TOPICS
 big data; data visualization; information literacy; information use; social media.
 AUTHOR KEYWORDS
 COVID-19 vaccine; misinformation; conspiracy theory; fake news; vaccine hesitancy.