Social Media Engagement and Influenza Vaccination During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Survey Study

• DOI: 10.2196/25977
• Publication Date: 2021-03-02T19:57:57Z
• Authors: Arriel Benis; Anna Khodos; Sivan Ran; Eugene Levner; Shai Ashkenazi
• Keywords: Pandemic; Cross-sectional study

Background Vaccines are one of the most important achievements modern medicine. However, their acceptance is only partial, with vaccine hesitancy and refusal representing a major health threat. Influenza vaccines have low compliance since repeated, annual vaccination required. stimulate discussions both in real world online. Social media currently significant source medical information. Elucidating association between social engagement influenza may be applicable to other vaccines, including ones against COVID-19. Objective The goal this study characterize profiles regarding knowledge order support improvement future web-associated campaigns. Methods A weblink an online survey Hebrew was disseminated over messaging platforms. answers were collected during April 2020. Anonymous volunteer participants aged 21 years answered 30 questions related sociodemographics; usage; influenza- vaccine-related behavior; health-related information searching, its reliability, influence; COVID-19-related searching. univariate descriptive data analysis performed, followed by multivariate via building decision tree define attributes associated compliance. Results total 213 subjects responded survey, whom 207 included analysis; majority respondents female, 40 years, had 1 2 children, lived central Israel, secular Israeli natives, higher education, salary close national average. Most (128/207, 61.8%) not vaccinated 2019 used media. Participants that younger, secular, living high-density agglomerations lower rates. perceived influence reliability on about COVID-19 generally similar those perceptions influenza. Conclusions Using negatively linked seasonal study. high proportion noncompliant individuals can lead increased consumption care services can, therefore, overload these services. This particularly crucial concomitant outbreak, such as Health professionals should use improved targeted communication campaigns aid experts Targeted communication, based sociodemographic factors personalized usage, might increase rates well.