Research pick: Understanding vaccine hesitancy driven by social media in India - "Role of digital misinformation in analysing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy"

Research in the International Journal of Management Practice, shows that Twitter in India expressed concerns and hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccination, and that digital misinformation played a significant role.

Misinformation and so-called “fake news” about vaccination against the pandemic disease COVID-19 has been rampant on social media platforms the world over. Indeed, vaccine hesitancy is on the rise the world over. The spread of misconceptions about the safety and efficacy of the available vaccines have led to many people refusing to accept the efficacy of this preventative measure. Renuka Mahajan and Pragya Gupta of the Jaipuria Institute of Management in Uttar Pradesh and Pooja S. Kushawaha of the Jaipuria Institute of Management in Madhya Pradesh, India, have investigated the social media conversation regarding vaccine hesitancy and the misinformation in order to better understand how people in India reacted.

The team used a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative sentiment analysis with qualitative content analysis to identify the negative sentiments related to COVID-19 vaccination on the well-known microblogging Twitter. The researchers found various factors that affected attitudes: willingness, risk perception, and efficacy, affordability, allocation, prioritization, and outreach.

The team sought the opinion of medical experts for their qualitative responses. Their opinions supported the findings and recognized the importance of understanding the factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy. The team thus suggests that the insights they have gleaned from their study could help the government and policymakers take appropriate action to address the concerns and encourage vaccine acceptance in India. Simpler vaccinations were well accepted in previous campaigns in India, for instance, in vaccinating against polio and smallpox. But, the COVID-19 vaccination program was generally by injection and requires two doses and so requires more healthcare training and logistic sophistication. It is worth noting that a nasal spray vaccine was launched in India in January 2023 by Bharat Biotech.

This all remains an important point given the ongoing pandemic. Moreover, there is an urgent need to understand how society responded in the way it did during the COVID-19 pandemic given the ever-present risk of another emergent pathogen that might lead to another, perhaps worse, pandemic in the future.

Mahajan, R., Gupta, P. and Kushawaha, P.S. (2023) ‘Role of digital misinformation in analysing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy’, Int. J. Management Practice, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp.284–318.