Abstract
During the pandemic, we observed new forms of social organisation for Healthcare Workers (HCWs) on social media. Little is known about how HCWs employ social media to share their experiences and attitudes about COVID-19 vaccines, including related misinformation. Through social media analysis using Twitter data, we assessed HCW perceptions and views about the administration and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in the UK. We were also interested in exploring HCWs’ personal experiences and attitudes towards taking the COVID-19 vaccines themselves. First, we collected Twitter data using the media monitoring and analysis softwares Meltwater™ and Pulsar™. Next, we ran an advanced Boolean search to identify and collect posts from users who identified as HCWs and mentioned the delivery, administration, or personal experience of COVID-19 vaccines over a period of two years. We then evaluated Tweets according to the ‘5C framework’ of Confidence, Complacency, Constraints, Calculation, and Collective responsibility to capture relevant predictors of vaccination behaviours among HCWs. Through our analysis, we draw upon sociology, ethics, communication studies, and use research methods concentrating on social media and media analysis. We therefore chose to use theories that would help us understand the positionality of the authors – rather than, for instance, the impact their messages might have on other users’ positions regarding COVID-19 vaccinations. Our overarching aim is to document the social media discussions by HCWs about vaccination, particularly in relation to views and experiences with COVID-19 vaccines and reflection about the related public health policies, with implications for future vaccine rollouts and vaccine policies.
Presenters
Noémie DéomResearcher, Rapid Research Evaluation and Appraisal Lab, University College London, London, City of, United Kingdom
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Social Media, Twitter, Healthcare workers, COVID-19, Vaccines, Attitudes, Vaccination
