The Reliability and Quality of YouTube Videos as a Source of Public Health Information Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background Recent emergency authorization and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines by regulatory bodies has generated global attention. As the most popular video-sharing platform globally, YouTube is a potent medium for the dissemination of key public health information. Understanding the nature of available content regarding COVID-19 vaccination on this widely used platform is of substantial public health interest. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and quality of information on COVID-19 vaccination in YouTube videos. Methods In this cross-sectional study, the phrases “coronavirus vaccine” and “COVID-19 vaccine” were searched on the UK version of YouTube on December 10, 2020. The 200 most viewed videos of each search were extracted and screened for relevance and English language. Video content and characteristics were extracted and independently rated against Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct and DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information by 2 authors. Results Forty-eight videos, with a combined total view count of 30,100,561, were included in the analysis. Topics addressed comprised the following: vaccine science (n=18, 58%), vaccine trials (n=28, 58%), side effects (n=23, 48%), efficacy (n=17, 35%), and manufacturing (n=8, 17%). Ten (21%) videos encouraged continued public health measures. Only 2 (4.2%) videos made nonfactual claims. The content of 47 (98%) videos was scored to have low (n=27, 56%) or moderate (n=20, 42%) adherence to Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct principles. Median overall DISCERN score per channel type ranged from 40.3 (IQR 34.8-47.0) to 64.3 (IQR 58.5-66.3). Educational channels produced by both medical and nonmedical professionals achieved significantly higher DISCERN scores than those of other categories. The highest median DISCERN scores were achieved by educational videos produced by medical professionals (64.3, IQR 58.5-66.3) and the lowest median scores by independent users (18, IQR 18-20). Conclusions The overall quality and reliability of information on COVID-19 vaccines on YouTube remains poor. Videos produced by educational channels, especially by medical professionals, were higher in quality and reliability than those produced by other sources, including health-related organizations. Collaboration between health-related organizations and established medical and educational YouTube content producers provides an opportunity for the dissemination of high-quality information on COVID-19 vaccination. Such collaboration holds potential as a rapidly implementable public health intervention aiming to engage a wide audience and increase public vaccination awareness and knowledge.

Factors Associated With the Vaccination Behavior Among COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitant College Students in Wuhan, China: A Survey Based on Social Psychological Dimension

“…Given the short development period of COVID-19 vaccines, coupled with the vaccination accidents of related vaccines, poor vaccine protective efficacy, and other facts, college students' willingness to vaccinate is easily affected by negative news about COVID-19 vaccination ( 38 ). Studies have found that the overall quality and credibility of the information about the COVID-19 vaccine on the famous video sharing platform YouTube is poor, and the false information contained therein may reduce people's COVID-19 vaccination rate ( 39 ). Jain et al suggest that it is pertinent to design an evidence-based strategy to promote the uptake of vaccination among students, which could include informational campaigns that address vaccine hesitancy ( 40 ).…”

Digital Health Paradox: International Policy Perspectives to Address Increased Health Inequalities for People Living With Disabilities

“…On the other hand, health disinformation and misinformation can easily and rapidly be spread in a digital society through social media, contributing to the continued existence and strengthening of factually incorrect health beliefs [ 26 ]. A recent notable example of health misinformation has been the tremendous decline in vaccine confidence [ 27 ].…”

YouTube as a source of information on COVID-19 vaccination in rheumatic diseases

“…As one of the platforms that dominate this field, it was preferred to conduct the study on YouTube. Although there is a previous YouTube study on COVID-19 vaccination, no research has been identified on COVID-19 vaccination in RD [ 7 ]. Because of the basic characteristics of their diseases and various immunosuppressive drugs they use, patients with RD should be considered separately from the general population.…”

“…Accessing information on the Internet is one of the important sources in this regard. A considerable portion of Internet consumers has the potential to use YouTube, the second most preferred website globally after Google, to provide more and detailed information [ 7 ]. YouTube, the most popular video-sharing platform, provides a wide range of content to users, with more than 500 h of video uploaded per minute [ 8 ].…”

“…There have been many studies evaluating COVID-19-related YouTube videos from various perspectives [ 7 , 10 – 12 ]. However, there are no studies analyzing videos on COVID-19 vaccination in the specific group of RD patients.…”