Sensational Media Reporting is Common When Describing Covid-19 Therapies, Detection Methods, and Vaccines

Ottwell, Ryan; Puckett, Madison; Rogers, Taylor; Nicks, Savannah; Vassar, Matt

doi:10.1136/jim-2020-001760

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…However, the use of internet webpages (e.g. news websites, blogs) was associated with hesitancy, suggesting that exposure to websites with potentially sensationalist stories about COVID-19 and vaccines - for example, news outlets that resort to sensationalism and exaggerated superlatives to remain competitive to advertising revenues - could influence individuals´ willingness to receive the vaccine [ 19 ]. Further, using the GHS as a source of vaccine-related information was negatively associated with hesitancy, suggesting that information from official health sources may be key to building trust and countering misinformation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors

Brackstone¹,

Atengble²,

Head³

et al. 2022

Pan Afr Med J

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Introduction Africa has the slowest COVID-19 vaccination rate of any continent in the world, with only 29.8% of the population receiving at least one dose of the vaccine. This includes Ghana, where only 37.8% of the country have received at least one dose as of October, 2022. The key aims of this research were to determine levels of hesitancy in COVID-19 vaccines among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana and observe their trends across time, and to identify independent predictors associated with vaccine hesitancy among unvaccinated individuals. Methods four online cross-sectional surveys of Ghanaian citizens were conducted in August, 2020 (N = 3048), March, 2021 (N = 1558), June, 2021 (N = 1295), and February, 2022 (N = 424). Results overall hesitancy decreased from 36.8% (95% CI: 35.1%-38.5%) in August, 2020 to 17.2% (95% CI: 15.3%-19.1%) in March, 2021. However, hesitancy increased to 23.8% (95% CI: 21.5%-26.1%) in June, 2021, and then again to 52.2% (95% CI: 47.4%-57.0%) in February, 2022. Key reasons included not having enough vaccine-related information (50.6%) and concerns over vaccine safety (32.0%). Hesitant groups included Christians, urban dwellers, opposition political party voters, females, individuals who completed higher education, individuals who reported receiving COVID-19 information from internet sources, and individuals who expressed uncertainty about commonly-circulated COVID-19 misinformation beliefs. Conclusion hesitancy rates among unvaccinated individuals in Ghana continues to rise. However, vaccine awareness strategies are sensitive to subpopulation characteristics. Many are reachable through targeted communication strategies, to which campaigns must focus on resolving vaccine-related concerns to ensure high vaccine uptake across Ghana.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors

Brackstone¹,

Atengble²,

Head³

et al. 2022

Pan Afr Med J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social media use was not a significant predictor of vaccine hesitancy despite WhatsApp and Facebook being two of the most widely used social media platforms in Ghana [23], suggesting that Ghanaians may be exposed to a mixture of good and bad information on social media. However, the use of Internet webpages (e.g., news websites, blogs) was associated with hesitancy, suggesting that exposure to websites with potentially sensationalist stories about COVID-19 and vaccines – for example, news outlets that resort to sensationalism and exaggerated superlatives to remain competitive to advertising revenues [24, 25] – could influence individuals’ willingness to receive the vaccine [26]. Further, using the GHS as a source of vaccine-related information was negatively associated with hesitancy, suggesting that information from official health sources may be key to building trust, countering misinformation, and reducing vaccine-related hesitancy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Ghana: The Roles of Political Allegiance, Misinformation Beliefs, and Sociodemographic Factors

Brackstone

Atengble

Head

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The vast majority of people in the world who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 reside in LMIC countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes Ghana, where only 14.4% of the country is considered fully vaccinated as of March 2022. A key factor negatively impacting vaccination campaigns is vaccine hesitancy, defined as the delay in the acceptance, or blunt refusal, of vaccines. Three online cross-sectional surveys of Ghanaian citizens were conducted in August 2020 (N = 3048), March 2021 (N = 1558), and June 2021 (N = 1295) to observe temporal trends of vaccine hesitancy in Ghana, and to examine key groups and predictors associated with hesitancy. Quantitative measurements of hesitancy and subjective reasons for hesitancy were assessed, including predictors such as misinformation beliefs, political allegiance, and demographic and socioeconomic factors. Descriptive statistics were employed to analyse temporal trends in hesitancy between surveys, and logistic regression analyses were conducted to observe key predictors of hesitancy. Findings revealed that overall hesitancy decreased from 36.8% (95% CI: 35.1%-38.5%) in August 2020 to 17.2% (95% CI: 15.3%-19.1%) in March 2021. However, hesitancy increased to 23.8% (95% CI: 21.5%-26.1%) in June 2021. Key reasons for refusing the vaccine in June 2021 included not having enough vaccine-related information (50.6%) and concerns over vaccine safety (32.0%). Groups most likely to express hesitancy included Christians, urban residents, opposition political party voters, people with more years of education, females, people who received COVID-19 information from internet sources, and people who expressed uncertainty about their beliefs in common COVID-19 misinformation. Groups with increased willingness to vaccinate included elected political party voters and people who reported receiving information about COVID-19 from the Ghana Health Service. This study provides knowledge on Ghanaian population confidence and concerns about COVID-19 immunisations, and can support development of locally-tailored health promotion strategies.

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Text Classifier of Sensationalist Headlines in Spanish Using BERT-Based Models

González Esparza,

Florencia,

Díaz Román

et al. 2023

Studies in Big Data

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Sensational Media Reporting is Common When Describing Covid-19 Therapies, Detection Methods, and Vaccines

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy trends in Ghana: a cross-sectional study exploring the roles of political allegiance, misinformation beliefs, and sociodemographic factors

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Ghana: The Roles of Political Allegiance, Misinformation Beliefs, and Sociodemographic Factors

Text Classifier of Sensationalist Headlines in Spanish Using BERT-Based Models

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