A survey of tweets revealed the theme of COVID-19 vaccine repellent

Waterloo Region — Vaccine hesitation can be an issue as soon as those eager to protect from COVID-19 are first attacked, but enough population to reach herd immunity Not vaccinated.

“I think hesitation will be a problem in the coming weeks,” said Janessa Griffith, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Institute of Medicine.

Griffith analyzed thousands of tweets from Canadians to find out why people hesitated to vaccinate with the aim of using the findings to refine their strategies for fighting hesitation.

“It’s a great way to take a snapshot of public discourse, and it’s great to be able to adjust our response,” she said.

Canada has exceeded 50 percent of vaccinations, “but they were very enthusiastic people,” Griffith said.

Hesitation has always been a problem in vaccination, but now it is imperative that most people be vaccinated with the COVID vaccine and eventually reach the goal of 75% of the population in order to get out of the pandemic.

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, a health officer in the Waterloo region, recently said that vaccine hesitation was not yet a local concern, but warned that supply still could not meet demand. With increased vaccine shipments and widespread eligibility, hesitation can emerge as a problem.

Griffith analyzed tweets using the keywords COVID and vaccine over the two weeks of December, when the first two vaccines were approved in Canada and the first injections began.

Of the 18,000 to 4,000 tweets randomly sampled across Canada, about 15% have vaccine hesitants, “I think this is pretty high,” Griffith said.

The theme emerged in a tweet: concerns about vaccine safety, vaccination being pushed for political or economic gain, misunderstandings about information, and misleading messages from authorities.

Misunderstandings such as how vaccines work and the concept of herd immunity were common. In general, misunderstandings arose from lack of information.

“It wasn’t really meant to be malicious,” Griffith said.

Looking back at the 2,000 tweets a week before May, I found a similar theme, but “there’s a lot of really positive things.” A new theme that emerged was people who were wondering why they were vaccinated when they were likely already infected with the virus.

“Many people liked innate immunity. They thought that innate immunity was the best way to go and didn’t want to miss a chance,” Griffith said.

But she added, “While taking the vaccine, you can still respect your body’s own innate immunity.”

The key to dealing with hesitation is sharing information in different ways, as different people react to different types of information. For example, share a personal story about vaccination, not just a chart or graph of efficacy.

“It tends to hit us at different levels compared to statistics,” Griffith said.

The explanations also need to be non-judgmental, and sharing vaccination stories with the help of officials and celebrities can also increase credibility.

A coordinated message to meet people where they are, understands how they work and why it is important for as many people as possible to be vaccinated, as well as to the COVID-19 vaccine. It should help increase trust.

“I think we need multiple ways to bridge the gap between science and the general public,” says Griffith.

Waterloo Studies

A study from the University of Waterloo found that the pandemic has caused more people to rethink other vaccines, and that COVID-19 is affecting older Canadians to get the flu shot.

According to a survey of 4,501 Canadians over the age of 50, 20% of 1,001 participants between the ages of 50 and 64 did not consider being vaccinated against the flu, but the effects of COVID-19 It is more likely that you have received it. Of these respondents, 92% said they had not been vaccinated against the flu the previous year.

Of the 3,500 participants over the age of 65, 8% said they were initially unplanned to be vaccinated against the flu, but are now more likely to be vaccinated against the flu.

“The pandemic was a cool demonstration of the risk of infectious diseases,” said Nancy Waite, a professor at a pharmacy school and lead author of the study. “We have seen a change in perceptions of the value of vaccines and a documented change in the willingness of those considering vaccination.”