WHERE are you getting your information regarding the vaccine from? Is it from knowledgeable medical and scientific authorities or are you getting updates from friends and acquaintances on social media?
A study by the Australian National University in Canberra has found that 64 percent of people are showing signs of hesitancy about possible side effects.
Another study by the University of New South Wales, Science School of Psychology is finding social media is exaggerating COVID vaccine side effects and is playing a key role in people avoiding vaccination.
UNSW Science’s School of Psychology, Dr Kate Faasse, said “Studies show that people are more likely to share their negative experiences on social media than their positive ones, so what you see online isn’t the whole story, or necessarily the most likely one.”
Dr Faasse’s research has shown that people generally tend to pay closer attention to negative information than positive information. This tendency, which is called negative bias, extends to negative information about vaccines, including side effects.
“Knowing this about ourselves and making sure we keep a look out for the positive information too, can help to ensure we are getting more balanced information about the vaccines,” she says.
Beyond individual motivation, the amount of information about COVID vaccines on social media, some accurate and some less accurate, can be confusing and overwhelming. The result of the flood of information has tangible outcomes.
In one of the studies, researchers gave people placebo pills, sugar pills, and told them that they were taking an active medication. Some participants just read a standard information leaflet about side effects, and others saw another participant (actually an actor in the study) report that they had had side effects.
Dr Faasse says people posting about COVID vaccine side effects on social media are probably having similar effects on those who read their posts and that’s mirrored in recent concerns from medical experts, who are observing Australia’s rising vaccine hesitancy.
She says there is evidence that people who feel more at risk from COVID are more willing to get vaccinated. It will be difficult to shift the views of a small number of people, but those who will refuse the vaccination under any circumstances are in the minority.
“If people are willing to get the vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones, then Australia can start to focus on life after this pandemic.”
