Vaccine discourse in white nationalist online communication: A mixed-methods computational approach

A hidden population: A rhetorical genre analysis of the posts in the Baidu depression community

Since its beginning in the 1980s, the mental health rhetoric research (MHRR) has explored the rhetorical construction of mental illness from a genre perspective. Despite a growing body of research on the rhetorical study of mental health in the West, the discourse of depression has been rarely explored in the Chinese context. This study investigates a corpus of 3217 posts in the Baidu depression community in China with an attempt to identify typical rhetorical features of the posts in the depression community as a genre. We intend, through an exploration of the exigences, social actions, and consequences of the posts, to facilitate a better understanding of the depressed population in China. We argue that the social exigences for the posts in online depression communities can be regarded as a failure of the rhetorical environment in real life and that expressing emotions, exchanging information, establishing interpersonal relationships, and communicating across spatiotemporal boundaries are the typified social actions performed by the posts in the Baidu depression community. Moreover, as a genre, the posts have successfully created an ambience of collective intimacy. Taken together, the findings shed light on the rhetorical study of depression in China.

The Politicization of Climate Science: Media Consumption, Perceptions of Science and Scientists, and Support for Policy

Differential media treatment of climate change, including conservative media's tendency to reject the anthropogenic climate change scientific consensus, has reinforced polarized perceptions of climate change. Studies have found differences in coverage patterns and in perceptions among those relying more heavily on conservative rather than liberal or moderate media. This scholarship has been limited by narrow measurements of media exposure, climate-related outcomes, and the mechanism of effects. We analyzed nationally representative US data (N = 1,181) using measures that included not only reported use of mainstream print, cable, and social media captured in past research, but also science programming, as well as far-right, alternative-health, and Christian media. On average, participants relied more heavily on centrist and liberal media, followed by Fox News and social media. The results corroborate findings associating exposure to centrist media with pro-climate attitudes, and conservative media, including Fox News with the opposite views. Use of far-right outlets was associated with the lowest levels of belief in anthropogenic climate change, perceptions of personal threat, and support for climate-friendly policy. Reliance on science media was associated with pro-climate views. Most associations were mediated via perceptions of science and scientists (using the Factors Associated with Self-Presentation of Science, FASS scale).

Vaccine safety beliefs in the state of Alaska

Objectives

Identifying the key factors associated with vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge as has been highlighted throughout the COVID-19 vaccine roll out and pandemic. The aim of this study was to determine characteristics associated with vaccine safety and compare perceived safety by vaccine. Our hypothesis is that vaccine safety perception will vary by vaccine with COVID-19 as ranked lowest for safety.

Study design

Cross sectional.

Methods

A statewide sample (n = 1024) responded to an online 28-point questionnaire via anonymous linked invitation.

Results

Among the eight vaccines assessed, COVID-19 had the lowest perceived safety (53.13%) followed by human papillomavirus HPV (63.38%). A binomial logistic regression assessed COVID-19 vaccine safety beliefs (safe v not safe) finding age, political orientation, and perceived safety of certain vaccines as statistically significant. As age increased by year, vaccine safety beliefs increased. Persons who identified as conservative demonstrated less belief in vaccine safety than all other groups. Among persons who did not perceive the COVID-19 vaccine as safe, 65.8% believed chicken pox was safe, 63.3% and 61.1% perceived hepatitis A& B were safe.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate that vaccine safety beliefs differ by vaccine and that persons who do not believe in the safety of the COVID-19 are not exclusively against all vaccines. Understanding factors that increase vaccine safety by vaccine could assist in developing an intervention which could increase belief in safety for all vaccines.

Heritage and hesitancy: how preference for traditional Chinese medicine influences vaccine attitudes

Introduction

Vaccine hesitancy, amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, is a pressing public health challenge. This study investigates the association between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) preference and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy within China.

Methods

The study uses data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) (N = 2,690). Logistic regressions and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method are employed to analyzed the relationship between TCM preference and vaccine hesitancy.

Results

The study reaffirms prior findings by revealing a robust and stable association between TCM preference and vaccine hesitancy, which remains unaffected by socioeconomic and demographic confounders, as well as institutional trust dynamics of healthcare system. Contrary to expectations, TCM enthusiasts do not exhibit vaccine hesitancy based on divergent epistemological views concerning vaccine risks and immunity acquisition compared to biomedicine.

Discussion

This research enriches understandings of the intricate relations between healthcare paradigms and vaccine attitudes, inviting further inquiry into the role of CAM in shaping vaccination behaviors across different cultures and contexts. The insights bear significant public health implications for enhancing vaccine acceptance and coverage, particularly among populations where CAM practices wield substantial influence.

Vaccine Preventable Disease and Vaccine Hesitancy

Global immunization programs have saved tens of millions of lives over the last 2 decades. Now, the recent successes of COVID-19 vaccines having saved more than 3 million lives in North America during the pandemic may open the door to accelerate technologies for other emerging infection vaccines. New vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, norovirus, influenza, herpes simplex virus, shingles, dengue fever, enteric bacterial infections, malaria, and Chagas disease are advancing through clinical development and could become ready for delivery over the next 5 years. The successful delivery of these new vaccines may require expanded advocacy and communications efforts.

Political quarrel overshadows vaccination advocacy: How the vaccine debate on Brazilian Twitter was framed by anti-vaxxers during Bolsonaro administration

Despite Brazil's tradition of successful mass immunization programs, the country has been experiencing alarming declines in vaccination coverage, especially among children. That is aggravated by the growth of anti-vaccine movements and the spread of health misinformation in social media in the last decade, which have worsened during the COVID-19 outbreak. Several reports link populism and far-right politicians to anti-vaccination support worldwide, which was also the case in Brazil during president Jair Bolsonaro's administration. This project aimed to identify the circulating pro and anti-vaccine narratives in Portuguese on Twitter, during a crucial decision-making period regarding childhood vaccination in Brazil, from December 9, 2021, until February 9, 2022. From the over one million tweets and four million retweets collected, we identified two well-defined groups, one in favor and another against vaccination. Within the sample, we selected 1500 influencer tweets with the highest impact (>500 retweets) and conducted content analysis. Although the pro-vaccine influencers were more retweeted than anti-vaxxer ones, we observed that anti-vaccine movements were more succesful in framing discussions on Twitter. The subject of COVID-19 was the target of political polarization embedded in populist, anti-science and anti-traditional media discourses promoted by anti-vaxxers. As a counterpart, the pro-vaccine influencers reacted inarticulately, focusing on criticizing the anti-vaccination actors, attitudes, and policies instead of promoting vaccines. Based on reults, we claim that a well-coordinated network of health communicators from science centers and health institutions, in partnership with properly briefed social media influencers and fact-checking sources, would more efectively pre-tempt the public about vaccine misinformation.

Conspiracies, Misinformation and Resistance to Public Health Measures During COVID-19 in White Nationalist Online Communication

Recent studies documented alarming growth in antiscientific discourse among extremist groups online and especially the relatively high anti-vaccine attitudes among White Nationalists (WN). In light of accelerated politization of COVID-19 containment measures and the expansion of containment to lockdowns, masking, and more, we examine current sentiment, themes and argumentation in white nationalist discourse, regarding the COVID-19 vaccines and other containment measure. We use unsupervised machine learning approaches to analyze all conversations posted in the “Covid-19” sub-forum on Stormfront between January 2020 and December 2021 (N = 9642 posts). Additionally, we manually analyze sentiment and argumentation in 300 randomly sampled posts. We identified four discursive themes: Science, Conspiracies, Sociopolitical, and Containment. Anti-containment sentiment was substantially higher than what was found in prior work done before COVID-19regarding vaccines and other containment measures. The negativity was driven mostly by arguments adapted from the anti-vaccine movement and not by WN ideology.

Vaccine Hesitancy Under the Magnifying Glass: A Systematic Review of the Uses and Misuses of an Increasingly Popular Construct

Resistance to vaccines has hindered attempts to contain and prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases for centuries. More recently, however, the term "vaccine hesitancy" has been used to describe not necessarily outright resistance but also a delay in acceptance or uncertainty regarding vaccines. Given concerns about hesitancy and its impact on vaccine uptake rates, researchers increasingly shifted the focus from resistance to vaccines toward vaccine hesitancy. Acknowledging the urgency to accurately assess the phenomenon, it is critical to understand the state of the literature, focusing on issues of conceptualization and operationalization. To carry out this systematic review, we collected and analyzed all published empirical articles from 2000 to 2021 that explicitly included quantitative self-report measures of vaccine hesitancy (k = 86). Using a mixed-method approach, the review demonstrates and quantifies crucial inconsistencies in the measurement of the construct, lack of clarity in regard to the determination of who should or should not be defined as hesitant, and overreliance on unrepresentative samples. Crucially, our analysis points to a potential systematic bias toward exaggerating the level of hesitancy in the population. Modeling a vaccine hesitancy co-citation network, the analysis also points to the existence of insular academic silos that make it harder to achieve a unified measurement tool. Theoretical and practical implications for academics, practitioners, and policymakers are discussed.