The sources and correlates of exposure to vaccine-related (mis)information online

Abstract

Objectives To assess the quantity and type of vaccine-related information Americans consume online and its relationship to social media use and attitudes toward vaccines. Methods Analysis of individual-level web browsing data linked with survey responses from representative samples of Americans collected between October 2016 and February 2019. Results We estimate that approximately 84% of Americans visit a vaccine-related webpage each year. Encounters with vaccine-skeptical content are less frequent; they make up only 7.5% of vaccine-related pageviews and are encountered by only 18.5% of people annually. However, these pages are more likely to be published by untrustworthy sources. Moreover, skeptical content exposure is more common among people with less favorable vaccine attitudes. Finally, usage of online intermediaries is frequently linked to vaccine-related information exposure. Google use is differentially associated with subsequent exposure to non-skeptical content, whereas exposure to vaccine-skeptical webpages is associated with usage of webmail and, to a lesser extent, Facebook. Conclusions Online exposure to vaccine-skeptical content is relatively rare, but vigilance is required given the potential for exposure among vulnerable audiences.

Would Parents Get Their Children Vaccinated Against SARS-CoV-2? Rate and Predictors of Vaccine Hesitancy According to a Survey over 5000 Families from Bologna, Italy

“…These factors may suggest that a higher level of education provides a protective effect against VH by giving more tools for decision-making, without falling prey to conspiracy theories. Moreover, as reported by other groups, those who mainly relied on Web sources and/or social media tended to be more hesitant [40][41][42][43]. Falsehoods are more widely shared by the web than by other media, with highly active, interconnected clusters of vaccine opponents around the world that strongly try to entangle with undecided clusters and dominate the Web community [44].…”

Infodemic Pathways: Evaluating the Role That Traditional and Social Media Play in Cross-National Information Transfer

“…However, increased visibility into peer-to-peer interactions on social media has led to an explosion of research on how misinformation is generated and spreads on these platforms. Health information appears uniquely vulnerable to broader trends in misinformation (Krishna and Thompson, 2019), with medical informationseeking from non-official sources very common (e.g., Guess et al, 2020). Moreover, misleading medical information has been extensively documented on social media platforms, notably related to vaccines (Radzikowski et al, 2016), Ebola (Fung et al, 2016), Zika (Sharma et al, 2017), and COVID-19 (Bridgman et al, 2020).…”

Infant Vaccination Does Not Predict Increased Infant Mortality Rate: Correcting Past Misinformation

“…Exposure to anti-vaccine information can directly affect vaccine intentions (15), and exposure to misinformation is more widespread than ever with increased use of the internet and social media (5,16,17). Not only can any information be shared on social media, regardless of its validity, but information can also be amplified quickly and spread virally (18)(19)(20).…”