Media Tracking of Early Sentiments about COVID-19 Vaccine in Africa

Abstract

Background: Advances in digital technology have made real-time listening and analysis of traditional and social media discussions possible over a selected geographical area. However, the technology is currently not widely available to inform public health risk communication. Aim: This paper reports the use of digital rumor monitoring system to present major sentiments tracked by Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) over traditional and social media regarding the COVID-19 vaccine during the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Rumors and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine were tracked by Africa CDC over the digital rumor monitoring system from March to November 2020. Traditional media analysis was conducted using African media and human-curated aggregation of open-source content from various African sources. Social media analysis was conducted using geo-located African Twitter and Facebook sources, resulting in a set of content from the media. Results: COVID-19 vaccine had the highest traction among COVID-19 rumors monitored in Africa between March and September 2020. Critical narratives were observed mainly in South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, and Kenya, where they undermined public views of the COVID-19 vaccine and the vaccine trials. Analysis shows underlying potential for vaccine acceptance is overshadowed by anti-vaccine rhetoric partly influenced by insufficient information about the vaccine in the public domain and the disapproval of “Western vaccine” by Africans. Conclusion: Realtime digital monitoring of rumors and misinformation about public health issues over social and traditional media is now possible. Health authorities and health institutions need transition to this real-time monitoring and build the capacity of their staff to use information from real-time analysis of rumors and misinformation for designing response. Larger scale investment in the technology is critical to make it available for wider use at the national and sub-national levels in Africa.