Strategies to address conspiracy beliefs and misinformation on COVID-19 in South Africa: A narrative literature review

Abstract

Conspiracy theories and misinformation have been explored extensively however, strategies to minimise their impact in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines are limited. This study aimed to explore strategies that can be used to reduce the negative effects of conspiracies and misinformation about SARS-CoV-2. This review was carried out based on accessed literature on beliefs in misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. A comprehensive search of databases, such as Google Scholar, EBSCOhost and African Journals between 2019 and 2022 yielded qualitative and quantitative studies. Two themes emerged, namely underlying motives for conspiracy theories and belief in misinformation about the pandemic and ways to overcome them. The latter included: (1) strengthening critical scanning of information, (2) critical review to address misinformation and (3) establishing approaches for managing conspiracy theories. A proposal is made to address conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 infection.Contribution: This is believed to be the first review that describes strategies to mitigate belief in conspiracies and misinformation to promote vaccination.

Influences of COVID-19 vaccination policy on students’ vaccine acceptance

“…One of the most significant current discussions in relation to the rollout and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines is COVID-19 infodemic (Bam 2022 ; Majee et al 2022 ). The WHO ( 2022a , b ) refers to COVID-19 infodemic as the spread of a large amount of fake news, rumours and information that mislead the public about emerging health issues and disease outbreaks in digital and social media.…”

“…Health promotion is a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health through engagement in healthy behaviours to enhance the quality of life and well-being (Kumar & Preetha 2012 ). However, COVID-19 infodemic affected people’s control, as it continues to disseminate misconceptions, misinformation and conspiracy theories about the vaccine through social media (Bam 2022 ; Geng et al 2022 ). For instance, research confirmed that COVID-19 infodemic perpetuated a risk of vaccine hesitancy and refusal of mandated vaccination among students, which influenced their participation in learning and teaching activities (Bam 2022 ; Geng et al 2022 ; Potgieter et al 2022 ).…”

“…However, COVID-19 infodemic affected people’s control, as it continues to disseminate misconceptions, misinformation and conspiracy theories about the vaccine through social media (Bam 2022 ; Geng et al 2022 ). For instance, research confirmed that COVID-19 infodemic perpetuated a risk of vaccine hesitancy and refusal of mandated vaccination among students, which influenced their participation in learning and teaching activities (Bam 2022 ; Geng et al 2022 ; Potgieter et al 2022 ). Nonetheless, mandated vaccine policies were not only implemented as a health promotion strategy to control the risk to spread the COVID-19 but it also exacerbated social anxieties and frustrations (Schmelz & Bowles 2021 ).…”

Sentiment Analysis of South African tweets about COVID-19 vaccines

“…Fears about mandated vaccinations appearing on social media can cause fear and scepticism about vaccines, according to the Africa CDC (2021). Conspiracy theories and religious ideas published on social media are two common types of misinformation that influence user perception (Bam, 2021;Chou et al, 2021;Shahi et al, 2020a).…”

“…Vaccination has been widely recognised as a critical tool in preventing the spread of COVID-19, with human studies indicating that COVID-19 vaccines are 89% safe, with a low to moderate risk of serious disease among older individuals (Bam, 2021). Despite this, there has been growing vaccine scepticism in South Africa, with only 67% of those polled expressing certainty in getting vaccinated and the remaining 33% uncertain or against getting vaccinated (Bam, 2021).…”