IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i11p5693-d562410.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Advocacy, Hesitancy, and Equity: Exploring U.S. Race-Related Discussions of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Twitter

Author

Listed:
  • Shaniece Criss

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Thu T. Nguyen

    (Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA)

  • Samantha Norton

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Imaya Virani

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Eli Titherington

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Emma Lou Tillmanns

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Courtney Kinnane

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Gabrielle Maiolo

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Anne B. Kirby

    (Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA)

  • Gilbert C. Gee

    (Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA)

Abstract

Background: Our study aimed to describe themes of tweets related to COVID-19 vaccines, race, and ethnicity to explore the context of the intersection of these topics on Twitter. Methods: We utilized Twitter’s Streaming Application Programming Interface (API) to collect a random 1% sample of publicly available tweets from October 2020 to January 2021. The study team conducted a qualitative content analysis from the full data set of 1110 tweets. Results: The tweets revealed vaccine support through vaccine affirmation, advocacy through reproach, a need for a vaccine, COVID-19 and racism, vaccine development and efficacy, racist vaccine humor, and news updates. Vaccine opposition was demonstrated through direct opposition, vaccine hesitancy, and adverse reactions. Conspiracy and misinformation included scientific misinformation, political misinformation, beliefs about immunity and protective behaviors, and race extermination conspiracy. Equity and access focused on overcoming history of medical racism, pointing out health disparities, and facilitators to vaccine access. Representation touted pride in development and role models, and politics discussed the role of politics in vaccines and international politics. Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrates that Twitter can provide nuances about multiple viewpoints on the vaccine related to race and ethnicity and can be beneficial in contributing to insights for public health messaging.

Suggested Citation

  • Shaniece Criss & Thu T. Nguyen & Samantha Norton & Imaya Virani & Eli Titherington & Emma Lou Tillmanns & Courtney Kinnane & Gabrielle Maiolo & Anne B. Kirby & Gilbert C. Gee, 2021. "Advocacy, Hesitancy, and Equity: Exploring U.S. Race-Related Discussions of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5693-:d:562410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5693/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/5693/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Latkin, Carl A. & Dayton, Lauren & Yi, Grace & Konstantopoulos, Arianna & Boodram, Basmattee, 2021. "Trust in a COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.: A social-ecological perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    2. Thu T. Nguyen & Shaniece Criss & Pallavi Dwivedi & Dina Huang & Jessica Keralis & Erica Hsu & Lynn Phan & Leah H. Nguyen & Isha Yardi & M. Maria Glymour & Amani M. Allen & David H. Chae & Gilbert C. G, 2020. "Exploring U.S. Shifts in Anti-Asian Sentiment with the Emergence of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-13, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sou Hyun Jang, 2022. "Social-ecological factors related to preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. Kai Li & Fen Zhou, 2022. "Influence of Information Sources on Chinese Parents Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination for Children: An Online Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Shin KINOSHITA & Masayuki SATO & Takanori IDA, 2022. "Bayesian Probability Revision and Infection Prevention Behavior in Japan : A Quantitative Analysis of the First Wave of COVID-19," Discussion papers e-22-004, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    4. Shusaku Sasaki & Tomoya Saito & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "The Resilience of FDI to Natural Disasters through Industrial Linkages," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-07, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    5. Furst, Rodrigo & Goldszmidt, Rafael & Andrade, Eduardo B. & Vieites, Yan & Andretti, Bernardo & Ramos, Guilherme A., 2024. "Longitudinal attenuation in political polarization: Evidence from COVID-19 vaccination adherence in Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    6. Nicolás C. Bronfman & Paula B. Repetto & Pamela C. Cisternas & Javiera V. Castañeda, 2021. "Factors Influencing the Adoption of COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors in Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-13, May.
    7. Galetsi, Panagiota & Katsaliaki, Korina & Kumar, Sameer, 2022. "The medical and societal impact of big data analytics and artificial intelligence applications in combating pandemics: A review focused on Covid-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    8. Liviu-Adrian Cotfas & Camelia Delcea & Rareș Gherai, 2021. "COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the Month Following the Start of the Vaccination Process," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-32, October.
    9. Greyling, Talita & Rossouw, Stephanié, 2024. "Vaccination uptake, happiness and emotions: using a supervised machine learning approach," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1482, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Obdulia Torres González & Libia Santos-Requejo, 2024. "The Impact of Knowledge and Trust on COVID-19 Vaccination Intention: Analysis of a Population Group with Low Incentives to Vaccinate in Spain," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(3), pages 21582440241, August.
    11. Amelia Blamey & Ilan Noy, 2024. "Mistrust and Missed Shots: Trust and Covid-19 Vaccination Decisions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11134, CESifo.
    12. Yeon-Jun Choi & Julak Lee & Seung Yeop Paek, 2022. "Public Awareness and Sentiment toward COVID-19 Vaccination in South Korea: Findings from Big Data Analytics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-14, August.
    13. Alessandro Sapienza & Rino Falcone, 2022. "The Role of Trust in COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance: Considerations from a Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Piehlmaier, Dominik M. & Stagno, Emanuela & Nagy, Agnes, 2023. "Overconfidence at the time of COVID-19:Does it lead to laxer attitudes?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    15. Manoj Sharma & Robert E. Davis & Amanda H. Wilkerson, 2021. "COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance among College Students: A Theory-Based Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-12, April.
    16. Frisco, Michelle L. & Van Hook, Jennifer & Thomas, Kevin J.A., 2022. "Racial/ethnic and nativity disparities in U.S. Covid-19 vaccination hesitancy during vaccine rollout and factors that explain them," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    17. Yuan, Yaqi & Yeo, Shun Yuan & Lee, Kristen Schultz, 2024. "Different roles of interpersonal trust and institutional trust in motivating older adults to receive COVID-19 vaccines in Singapore," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    18. Milošević Đorđević, J. & Mari, S. & Vdović, M. & Milošević, A., 2021. "Links between conspiracy beliefs, vaccine knowledge, and trust: Anti-vaccine behavior of Serbian adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    19. Jiepin Cao & Chiyoung Lee & Wenyang Sun & Jennie C. De Gagne, 2022. "The #StopAsianHate Movement on Twitter: A Qualitative Descriptive Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-11, March.
    20. Ian Peacock & Emily Ryo, 2022. "A study of pandemic and stigma effects in removal proceedings," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 560-593, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:11:p:5693-:d:562410. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.