Quantifying Changes in Vaccine Coverage in Mainstream Media as a Result of the COVID-19 Outbreak: Text Mining Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Achieving herd immunity through vaccination depends upon the public's acceptance, which in turn relies on their understanding of its risks and benefits. The fundamental objective of public health messaging on vaccines is therefore the clear communication of often complex information and, increasingly, the countering of misinformation. The primary outlet shaping public understanding is mainstream online news media, where coverage of COVID-19 vaccines was widespread.

Objective

We used text-mining analysis on the front pages of mainstream online news to quantify the volume and sentiment polarization of vaccine coverage.

Methods

We analyzed 28 million articles from 172 major news sources across 11 countries between July 2015 and April 2021. We employed keyword-

SUBMITTER: Christensen B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9631944 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature