THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ON THE PUBLIC’S DECISION FOR COVID-19 VACCINATION IN THE STATE OF PENANG: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background: Vaccination programs are intended to contain the spread of diseases, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, as they played a crucial role in the prevention of the disease. The power of social media as an influencing factor had been studied across the globe with many positive and negative notes. One of the vital instruments was social media platforms, which were used to encourage society to get vaccinated. Plenty of baseless, fake, and unverified information (Infodemic) was being circulated in the media. In addition, there were also many unexplored causes as well as reasons that were spun and spread irresponsibly concerning the COVID-19 virus, the vaccine, and the vaccination process. All these factors further encouraged the lack of confidence of the public in getting vaccinated. Hence, a qualitative study was conducted for a period of eight months to analyse the perceived awareness of COVID-19 vaccinations among the public in the state of Penang while investigating the barriers involved in denying the COVID-19 vaccine, and the impact of social media on the public’s decisions for vaccination. Results: A total of 22 participants were interviewed for this study and 3 main themes were discovered during the analysis of the data, which were on the relationship between the role of social media and messaging apps for COVID-19 information, the reason for vaccine rejection and perception on vaccine advocacy.. The commonly used social media applications such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram were the frequently given answers by the participants as they would highlight that it was a straightforward platform that could be easily accessible by everyone with an easy sharing option done effortlessly. While participants were well aware of and acknowledged the COVID-19 vaccination program, side effects of the vaccine were a major concern regarding vaccine hesitancy. The participant voiced out that the concern was the assesibilty of the vaccine for the elderly who are bedridden, or wheelchair bound and also not to forget the rural area population. A different aspect of sub-themes was explored and investigated to accurately derive a solution plan to improve the vaccination rate with the assistance of social media at its fullest. Social media did demonstrate to be a vital factor in the decision-making of getting vaccinated for COVID-19 negatively. However, with the dissemination of accurate and real information about health literacy on the COVID-19 vaccination thru social media could improve the vaccination rate among the general public. Conclusion The decision of the public on the vaccination program has been and will continue to be significantly impacted by social media. In addition, vaccine acceptance and the vaccination rate have also been greatly affected due to the health literacy awareness and infodemics accessibility of the population. Any initiative towards vaccination in the goal to save human life is the responsibility of both the common public and the government. Success can only be achieved by the collaborative synchronized efforts of all parties in combating this pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, social media, side effects