COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among Social Media Users: A Content Analysis, Multi-Continent Study

Ramy Shaaban, Ramy Mohamed Ghazy, Fawzia Elsherif, Nancy Ali, Youssef Yakoub, Maged Osama Aly, Rony ElMakhzangy, Marwa Shawky Abdou, Bonny McKinna, Amira Mohamed Elzorkany, Fatimah Abdullah, Amr Alnagar, Nashwa ElTaweel, Majed Alharthi, Ali Mohsin, Ana Ordóñez-Cruickshank, Bianca Toniolo, Tâmela Grafolin, Thit Thit Aye, Yong Zhin Goh, Ehsan Akram Deghidy, Siti Bahri, Jarntrah Sappayabanphot, Yasir Ahmed Mohammed Elhadi, Salma Mohammed, Ahmed Nour El-Deen, Ismail Ismail, Samar Abd ElHafeez, Iffat Elbarazi, Basema Saddik, Ziad El-Khatib, Hiba Mohsin and Ahmed Kamal
Additional contact information
Ramy Shaaban: Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84321, USA
Ramy Mohamed Ghazy: Tropical Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Fawzia Elsherif: Epidemiology Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Nancy Ali: Department of Communications Media, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705, USA
Youssef Yakoub: Department of Communications Media, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705, USA
Maged Osama Aly: Nutrition Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Rony ElMakhzangy: Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21545, Egypt
Marwa Shawky Abdou: Epidemiology Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Bonny McKinna: Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Amira Mohamed Elzorkany: Training and Biostatistics Administration, Ministry of Health and Population, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Fatimah Abdullah: Internal Medicine Department, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt
Amr Alnagar: General Surgery Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Nashwa ElTaweel: University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire, Coventry CV2 2DX, UK
Majed Alharthi: Faculty of Communication and Media, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 22254, Saudi Arabia
Ali Mohsin: Biomedical Engineering Department, Collage of Engineering, Wraith Al-Anbiyaa University, Karbala 56001, Iraq
Ana Ordóñez-Cruickshank: Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Bianca Toniolo: LabCom Research Unit, University of Beira Interior, Foundation for Science and Technology, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal
Tâmela Grafolin: LabCom Research Unit, University of Beira Interior, Foundation for Science and Technology, 6201-001 Covilha, Portugal
Thit Thit Aye: Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Yong Zhin Goh: Institute of Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Ehsan Akram Deghidy: Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Statistics, Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt
Siti Bahri: Pharmacy Department, Rompin Hospital, Ministry of Health Malaysia, 62590 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Jarntrah Sappayabanphot: Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Yasir Ahmed Mohammed Elhadi: Department of Public Health, Medical Research Office, Sudanese Medical Research Association, Khartoum 11111, Sudan
Salma Mohammed: Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
Ahmed Nour El-Deen: Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt
Ismail Ismail: Department of Neurology, Ibn Sina Hospital, Safat, Kuwait City 13115, Kuwait
Samar Abd ElHafeez: Epidemiology Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21561, Egypt
Iffat Elbarazi: Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates
Basema Saddik: College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates
Ziad El-Khatib: Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden
Hiba Mohsin: College of Pharmacy, Al-Zahraa University for Women, Karbala 56001, Iraq
Ahmed Kamal: Hepatology Unit, Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21131, Egypt

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Vaccine hesitancy (VH) is defined as a delayed in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services. This multinational study examined user interaction with social media about COVID-19 vaccination. The study analyzed social media comments in 24 countries from five continents. In total, 5856 responses were analyzed; 83.5% of comments were from Facebook, while 16.5% were from Twitter. In Facebook, the overall vaccine acceptance was 40.3%; the lowest acceptance rates were evident in Jordan (8.5%), Oman (15.0%), Senegal (20.0%) and Morocco (20.7%) and the continental acceptance rate was the lowest in North America 22.6%. In Twitter, the overall acceptance rate was (41.5%); the lowest acceptance rate was found in Oman (14.3%), followed by USA (20.5%), and UK (23.3%) and the continental acceptance rate was the lowest in North America (20.5%), and Europe (29.7%). The differences in vaccine acceptance across countries and continents in Facebook and Twitter were statistically significant. Regarding the tone of the comments, in Facebook, countries that had the highest number of serious tone comments were Sweden (90.9%), USA (61.3%), and Thailand (58.8%). At continent level, serious comments were the highest in Asia (58.4%), followed by Africa (46.2%) and South America (46.2%). In Twitter, the highest serious tone was reported in Egypt (72.2%) while at continental level, the highest proportion of serious comments was observed in Asia (59.7%), followed by Europe (46.5%). The differences in tone across countries and continents in Facebook and Twitter and were statistically significant. There was a significant association between the tone and the position of comments. We concluded that the overall vaccine acceptance in social media was relatively low and varied across the studied countries and continents. Consequently, more in-depth studies are required to address causes of such VH and combat infodemics.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; vaccine hesitancy; COVID-19; comment tone and position; content analysis; social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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