The Impact of Social Media on CoViD-19 Vaccination Hesitancy
A Thesis presented to the Faculty of College of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in Bachelor of Arts in Communication 2nd Semester, SY 2021-2022
Acknowledgement
The researchers would like to take this opportunity to thank those people who served as a guide in the completion of this study. The researchers would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to Prof. Nenita Santos, our dear Thesis Writing I and II Adviser, who provided us challenging yet memorable experience in conducting this study. We appreciate his comments and suggestions that give us the motivation to make this study possible.
We also want to thank the Respondents who helped us conduct our research by filling out a questionnaire that will be used in the study. To our friends and classmates who gave us motivation and support on how to improve our research study.
The researchers would like to express our greatest appreciation to our beloved family members who have given us their moral and financial support in conducting our study. We appreciate all of your patience and understanding. Above all, we would like to extend everlasting gratitude to our Almighty Father for giving countless blessings, knowledge, and strength for us to come up with a successful research study.
– J.K.A.C
Abstract
Effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines have been developed at a rapid and unprecedented pace to control the spread of the virus and prevent hospitalizations and deaths. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake is challenged by vaccine hesitancy. In this paper, we explored vaccination narratives and challenges experienced and observed by Manileños during the early vaccination period. We surveyed 30 respondents in Manila. The survey form was conducted in Filipino and English via online platforms such as Google Forms. To highlight the complex reasons for delaying or refusing COVID-19 vaccines, we embedded our findings within the social-ecological model. Our analysis showed that individual perceptions play a significant role in vaccinating. Such perceptions are shaped by exposure to (mis)information amplified by the media, the community, and the health system. Social networks may positively or
negatively impact vaccination uptake, depending on their views on vaccines. Political issues contribute to vaccine brand hesitancy, resulting in vaccination delays and refusals. Perceptions about the inefficiency and inflexibility of the system also create additional barriers to the vaccine rollout in the country, especially among vulnerable and marginalized groups. Recognizing and addressing concerns at all levels are needed to improve COVID-19 vaccination uptake and reach. Strengthening health literacy is a critical tool to combat misinformation that undermines vaccine confidence. Vaccination systems must also consider the needs of marginalized and vulnerable groups to ensure their access to vaccines. In all these efforts to improve vaccine uptake, governments will need to engage with communities to ‘co-create’ solutions.
Approval
This thesis of John Kevin A. Centeno is approved by the panelists and faculty members of the Universidad De Manila. Namely, Prof. Ronald Zamora (Panel), Prof. Nenita O. Santos (Adviser), and Dr. Noami D. Solano (UDM Dean of Arts and Sciences).
Introduction
COVID-19 is a deadly respiratory illness, caused by SARs-CoV-2. The virus caused a crisis affecting our economy and society. Establishments are closing or rotating their manpower to reduce the spread of the COVID-19. After a lot of research, Scientists around the world discovered a chemical composition that will suppress the virus. Free vaccinations are now happening around the world. But some people are not happy with what the governments doing. The COVID-19 vaccine has been met with a mix of excitement and apprehension. A significant portion of Manila’s population continues to have hesitancy toward a COVID-19 vaccine, as of July 4, 2021, only 166,391 out of 1,846,531 citizens of Manila are recorded to be fully vaccinated. Since late June, the Philippines has greenlighted the vaccination of five priority groups, namely health workers (A1), senior citizens (A2), persons with comorbidities (A3), economic frontline workers (A4), and indigent Filipinos (A5). The government’s strategy was to kickstart inoculations in places with high infections and significant economic impact. These include Metro Manila, six provinces in Luzon, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao (Rappler, 2021). But due to the misinformation scatter over social media, the government’s goals are bound to be impossible.
Background of the Study
Most of us would see that vaccination programs could help the economy and society come back from the nearly graved situation. Records show that the Philippine economy suffered a big loss due to the lockdowns and ECQs implemented by the government, some laborers have lost their jobs and started to think about where they could find money to support their needs. However, the government has come up with assistance, the social amelioration programs helped the people to survive lockdowns. Vaccination programs also are being implemented and fast running through the help of LGUs.
Though the government helped people survive the crisis and vaccination programs are undergone, but after giving, the government is now running out of funds, and people are hesitating to get vaccinated due to the misinformation from the social media, therefore this study aims to what is the influence of social media covid-19 vaccine hesitancy.
Few citizens of Manila are hesitant to get vaccinated, as used in this study is to know the sources of anti-vaccination campaigns, and their relationship to people’s vaccine hesitancy to help the Manila LGU to plan a strategy to pursue people to get vaccinated and reach the goal of vaccinating 100% of the population.
Statement of the Problem
This study aimed to know the impact of social media on covid-19 vaccine
hesitancy.
Specifically, the study attempted to answer the following questions:
- What social media platforms are most likely to influence the people to be
unvaccinated? - What are the effects of anti-vaccination campaigns on the respondents?
- What are the reasons of the respondents for being unvaccinated?
Objectives of the Study
The primary objectives of this research are:
- to identify the social media platforms that influence the respondents to hesitate about vaccination;
- to find out the effects of anti-vaccination campaigns on social media on the respondents;
- to find the reasons of the respondents for being unvaccinated;
Significance of the Study
This section provides various reasons as to the essence of the study. This study aimed to benefit the following:
The Manila LGU, this study ensures that the local government of Manila can prepare a lot of new strategies to continue the CoViD-19 vaccination project, to be able to ensure the mission to vaccinate the 100 percent of the population.
Future Researchers may benefit from this study as a source for conducting the same research. Their research may lead to
Scope and Limitation
The study specifically focused on the people who are hesitant of being vaccinated. Although there are other factors affecting the decision of the people, the researchers choose only anti-vaccination campaigns that are spread on social media. To obtain the influence of social media on CoVid-19 vaccine hesitancy.
The researcher will give a self-evaluation questionnaire that is required to answer by the chosen vaccine-hesitant, regarding the anti-vaccination campaigns on social media. This study is largely dependent on the respondent’s honesty,
sincerity, and integrity.
Regarding the sources of anti-vaccination campaigns, the result will depend on the respondents’ answers as they rank the platforms that are most likely to contain sources of the anti-vaccination campaigns. If there are people involved, the researcher will respect their privacy and will not expose their identities to the public.
Definition of Terms
Social Media. This refers to interactive technologies that allow the creation or sharing/exchange of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of social media arise due to the broad variety of stand-alone and built in social media services currently available (Dollarhide, 2021).
LGU. This refers to a local government unit which is a political subdivision of the Republic of the Philippines at the provincial, city, municipal, or Barangay level, and “LGUs” means, collectively, the plural thereof (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2005).
CoVid-19. This refers to an acute respiratory illness in humans caused by a coronavirus, capable of producing severe symptoms and in some cases death, especially in older people and those with underlying health conditions. It was originally identified in China in 2019 and became a pandemic in 2020 (Oxford Languages, 2020).
ECQ. This Refers to enhanced community quarantine which is a series of stay-at-home orders and cordon sanitaire measures implemented by the
Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in the island of Luzon and its associated islands. It is part of the COVID-19 community quarantines in the Philippines, a larger scale of COVID-19 containment measures with varying degrees of strictness. The “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ) is the strictest of these measures and is effectively a total lockdown (Wikipedia, 2020).