Online Search Behavior Related to COVID-19 Vaccines: Infodemiology Study

An, Lawrence C.; Russell, Daniel M.; Mihalcea, Rada; Bacon, Elizabeth; Huffman, Scott B.; Resnicow, Ken

doi:10.2196/32127

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Many studies have applied this method to track trends in population attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines based on data mining, as data mining can process long-term and large-scale data. Pullan et al [ 12 ] and An et al [ 13 ] analyzed data from Google Trends, and they both found that the number of searches related to COVID-19 vaccines had increased during the pandemic. Yin et al [ 14 ] proposed a novel behavioral dynamics model on Weibo messages to analyze vaccine acceptance in China, and they demonstrated that Chinese individuals were inclined to be positive about side effects over time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution and Disparities of Online Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines: Year-long Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Study

Zhang¹,

Li²,

Liu³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background Due to the urgency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, vaccine manufacturers have to shorten and parallel the development steps to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine production. Although all usual safety and efficacy monitoring mechanisms remain in place, varied attitudes toward the new vaccines have arisen among different population groups. Objective This study aimed to discern the evolution and disparities of attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines among various population groups through the study of large-scale tweets spanning over a whole year. Methods We collected over 1.4 billion tweets from June 2020 to July 2021, which cover some critical phases concerning the development and inoculation of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. We first developed a data mining model that incorporates a series of deep learning algorithms for inferring a range of individual characteristics, both in reality and in cyberspace, as well as sentiments and emotions expressed in tweets. We further conducted an observational study, including an overall analysis, a longitudinal study, and a cross-sectional study, to collectively explore the attitudes of major population groups. Results Our study derived 3 main findings. First, the whole population’s attentiveness toward vaccines was strongly correlated (Pearson r=0.9512) with official COVID-19 statistics, including confirmed cases and deaths. Such attentiveness was also noticeably influenced by major vaccine-related events. Second, after the beginning of large-scale vaccine inoculation, the sentiments of all population groups stabilized, followed by a considerably pessimistic trend after June 2021. Third, attitude disparities toward vaccines existed among population groups defined by 8 different demographic characteristics. By crossing the 2 dimensions of attitude, we found that among population groups carrying low sentiments, some had high attentiveness ratios, such as males and individuals aged ≥40 years, while some had low attentiveness ratios, such as individuals aged ≤18 years, those with occupations of the 3rd category, those with account age <5 years, and those with follower number <500. These findings can be used as a guide in deciding who should be given more attention and what kinds of help to give to alleviate the concerns about vaccines. Conclusions This study tracked the year-long evolution of attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines among various population groups defined by 8 demographic characteristics, through which significant disparities in attitudes along multiple dimensions were revealed. According to these findings, it is suggested that governments and public health organizations should provide targeted interventions to address different concerns, especially among males, older people, and other individuals with low levels of education, low awareness of news, low income, and light use of social media. Moreover, public health authorities may consider cooperating with Twitter users having high levels of social influence to promote the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among all population groups.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution and Disparities of Online Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines: Year-long Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Study

Zhang¹,

Li²,

Liu³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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show abstract

“…This work contributes to the growing literature on infodemiology , which seeks to employ search engine data in the service of health information seeking, forecasting, and surveillance [ 35 ]. Previous research has covered a wide variety of infectious diseases such as influenza [ 36 ], dengue [ 37 ], norovirus [ 38 ], COVID-19 [ 39 ], and sexually transmitted infections [ 40 ], as well as other topics like cancer [ 22 , 23 ], dementia [ 18 ], and mental health [ 20 ]. Among the limited literature exploring HIV/AIDS with internet search data, the methodology is often restricted to qualitative [ 41 ] or parametric methodology [ 42 ], with limited research on Africa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for HIV and AIDS Health Information in South Africa, 2004-2019: Analysis of Google and Wikipedia Search Trends

Okunoye¹,

Ning²,

Jemielniak³

2022

JMIR Form Res

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Background AIDS, caused by HIV, is a leading cause of mortality in Africa. HIV/AIDS is among the greatest public health challenges confronting health authorities, with South Africa having the greatest prevalence of the disease in the world. There is little research into how Africans meet their health information needs on HIV/AIDS online, and this research gap impacts programming and educational responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Objective This paper reports on how, in general, interest in the search terms “HIV” and “AIDS” mirrors the increase in people living with HIV and the decline in AIDS cases in South Africa. Methods Data on search trends for HIV and AIDS for South Africa were found using the search terms “HIV” and “AIDS” (categories: health, web search) on Google Trends. This was compared with data on estimated adults and children living with HIV, and AIDS-related deaths in South Africa, from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and also with search interest in the topics “HIV” and “AIDS” on Wikipedia Afrikaans, the most developed local language Wikipedia service in South Africa. Nonparametric statistical tests were conducted to support the trends and associations identified in the data. Results Google Trends shows a statistically significant decline (P<.001) in search interest for AIDS relative to HIV in South Africa. This trend mirrors progress on the ground in South Africa and is significantly associated (P<.001) with a decline in AIDS-related deaths and people living longer with HIV. This trend was also replicated on Wikipedia Afrikaans, where there was a greater interest in HIV than AIDS. Conclusions This statistically significant (P<.001) association between interest in the search terms “HIV” and “AIDS” in South Africa (2004-2019) and the number of people living with HIV and AIDS in the country (2004-2019) might be an indicator that multilateral efforts at combating HIV/AIDS—particularly through awareness raising and behavioral interventions in South Africa—are bearing fruit, and this is not only evident on the ground, but is also reflected in the online information seeking on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We acknowledge the limitation that in studying the association between Google search interests on HIV/AIDS and cases/deaths, causal relationships should not be drawn due to the limitations of the data.

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“…A Twitter poll showed that more than half of the respondents were sceptical about COVID-19 vaccinations [ 16 ]. Another study, that examined online search behaviour related to COVID-19 vaccines during the beginning of public vaccination, found that many individuals who are uncertain about critical vaccine-related information do not engage in active online search to address their information needs, highlighting the importance of encouraging more active information-seeking, as well as a critical appraisal of health information on the web, as a strategy for combating misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines [ 17 , 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceptance and Factors Influencing Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine in a Romanian Population

Ionescu

Fetecau

Giurgiuca

et al. 2022

JPM

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COVID-19 vaccination has been recognized as one of the most effective ways to overcome the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. However, the success of this effort relies on national vaccination programmes. In May 2021, we surveyed 1552 people from Romania to determine acceptance rates and factors influencing acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. Of these, 39.2% of participants reported that they were vaccinated and 25.6% desired vaccination; nonetheless, 29.5% expressed opposition to vaccination. Concerning vaccination refusal, the top justification given by respondents is that the vaccine is insufficiently safe and there is a risk of serious side effects (84.4%). A higher rate of vaccination refusal was observed among female gender, younger age, and lower educational level. Refusal was also associated with unemployment, being in a relationship, and having a decrease in income during the pandemic. People who are constantly informed by specialized medical staff have a statistically significant higher vaccination rate, while people who choose to get information from friends, family, and co-workers have the strongest intention of avoiding the vaccine. Current levels of vaccine are insufficient to achieve herd immunity of 67%. It is mandatory to understand the aspects that define and establish confidence and to craft nationwide interventions appropriately.

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Online Search Behavior Related to COVID-19 Vaccines: Infodemiology Study

Cited by 31 publications

References 39 publications

The Evolution and Disparities of Online Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines: Year-long Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Study

The Evolution and Disparities of Online Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccines: Year-long Longitudinal and Cross-sectional Study

Searching for HIV and AIDS Health Information in South Africa, 2004-2019: Analysis of Google and Wikipedia Search Trends

Acceptance and Factors Influencing Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccine in a Romanian Population

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