Conflicting attitudes: Analyzing social media data to understand the early discourse on COVID-19 passports

Factors affecting the intention to use COVID-19 contact tracing application "StaySafe PH": Integrating protection motivation theory, UTAUT2, and system usability theory

PURPOSE

StaySafe PH is the Philippines' official contact tracing software for controlling the propagation of COVID-19 and promoting a uniform contact tracing strategy. The StaySafe PH has various features such as a social distancing system, LGU heat map and response system, real-time monitoring, graphs, infographics, and the primary purpose, which is a contact tracing system. This application is mandatory in establishments such as fast-food restaurants, banks, and malls.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this research was to determine the country's willingness to utilize StaySafe PH. Specifically, this study utilized 12 latent variables from the integrated Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2), and System Usability Scale (SUS). Data from 646 respondents in the Philippines were employed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), Deep Learning Neural Network (DLNN), and SUS.

RESULTS

Utilizing the SEM, it is found that understanding the COVID-19 vaccine, understanding the COVID-19 Delta variant, perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, performance expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, behavioral intention, actual use, and the system usability scale are major determinants of intent to utilize the application. Understanding of the COVID-19 Delta Variant was found to be the most important factor by DLNN, which is congruent with the results of SEM. The SUS score of the application is "D", which implies that the application has poor usability.

IMPLICATIONS

It could be implicated that large concerns stem from the trust issues on privacy, data security, and overall consent in the information needed. This is one area that should be promoted. That is, how the data is stored and kept, utilized, and covered by the system, how the assurance could be provided among consumers, and how the government would manage the information obtained. Building the trust is crucial on the development and deployment of these types of technology. The results in this study can also suggest that individuals in the Philippines expected and were certain that vaccination would help them not contract the virus and thus not be vulnerable, leading to a positive actual use of the application.

NOVELTY

The current study considered encompassing health-related behaviors using the PMT, integrating with the technology acceptance model, UTAUT2; as well as usability perspective using the SUS. This study was the first one to evaluate and assess a contact tracing application in the Philippines, as well as integrate the frameworks to provide a holistic measurement.

Public Attitudes Towards Vaccine Passports in Alberta During the "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated": A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Posts

Objective: The goal of this study is to understand the attitudes and beliefs towards mandatory vaccination policies in Alberta, Canada in September 2021, during the fourth wave of COVID-19. Methods: 9400 posts between 1st September and 30th September 2021 were collected from the subreddit r/Alberta with Pushshift.io. Posts and comments were manually screened to determine their relevance to research objectives, and then coded using inductive coding and iterative qualitative analysis methods. Results: Inductive coding methods yielded five key themes: 1) opinions related to autonomy and consent, 2) concerns about COVID-19 vaccine passport enforcement, 3) concerns about government, 4) concerns about the logistics of passports, and 5) opinions relating to the necessity of passports to prevent lockdowns. Conclusion: Overall, the data presented favorable opinions towards an Albertan vaccine passport within r/Alberta. Anti-vaccine and anti-mandate opinions were often less extreme than those present in the literature, although this may be due to r/Alberta subreddit moderators removing those more extreme comments. Most reservations were due to issues of bodily autonomy, though concerns about the government and logistics also played a meaningful role.

An empirical analysis of American Passenger's willingness to fly in commercial airplanes after vaccination against COVID-19

Although several studies have explored the effects of the pandemic on aviation, little remains known about whether members of the public are willing to fly again after they have been vaccinated. The current study uses the Health Belief Model (HBM) to fill this missing gap by manipulating the following variables: 1) whether or not the participant is vaccinated; 2) whether or not airlines require that all passengers and crew receive vaccinations; 3) length of flight; 4) destination; and 5) the number of passengers. The data from 678 participants revealed that willingness to fly is much higher if the participants themselves have been vaccinated, if the airlines require all passengers to be vaccinated, if the flight is short, if the destination is domestic, and if the number of passengers is low. These findings did not appear to differ as a function of flying business versus pleasure. We discuss the practical implications of these data as airlines struggle to bring back their customer base.

Comparing COVID-19 vaccine passports attitudes across countries by analysing Reddit comments

Topic mining and sentiment polarity analysis together can adequately represent the topics and attitudes of users. The goal of this article is to use Reddit’s location-based subreddits to look at country-level differences in attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccine passports. We used sentiment analysis and latent topic modelling on textual data obtained from 18 Reddit communities concentrating on COVID-19 vaccine passports from 1 January 2021 to 28 February 2022 to study COVID-19 vaccine passports–related discussion on Reddit. To discover changes in sentiment and latent topics, 11,168 comments were aggregated and examined by month. The number of comments on postings from country-specific subreddits was positively proportional to the number of new COVID-19 cases reported each day. The more subjective expressions and positive/negative interpretations occurred after July 2021. Communities indicated more positive sentiment than negative sentiment towards vaccine passports–related topics, according to polarity analysis. Topic modelling found that community members were concerned about a variety of concerns related to their socioeconomic status. Throughout the topic modelling, keywords suggesting people’s privacy concerns and acceptance of various COVID-19 control methods were found. The use of public opinion and topic modelling to analyse vaccine passports could help with important global health informatics concerns associated with their socioeconomic status.

Warmth and competence perceptions of key protagonists are associated with containment measures during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 35 countries

It is crucial to understand why people comply with measures to contain viruses and their effects during pandemics. We provide evidence from 35 countries (N_total = 12,553) from 6 continents during the COVID-19 pandemic (between 2021 and 2022) obtained via cross-sectional surveys that the social perception of key protagonists on two basic dimensions-warmth and competence-plays a crucial role in shaping pandemic-related behaviors. Firstly, when asked in an open question format, heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were universally identified as key protagonists across countries. Secondly, multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses revealed that warmth and competence perceptions of these and other protagonists differed significantly within and between countries. Thirdly, internal meta-analyses showed that warmth and competence perceptions of heads of state, physicians, and protest movements were associated with support and opposition intentions, containment and prevention behaviors, as well as vaccination uptake. Our results have important implications for designing effective interventions to motivate desirable health outcomes and coping with future health crises and other global challenges.

Public views on the Covid-19 immunity certificate: A scoping review

INTRODUCTION

Already in its first implementation, the introduction of the Covid-19 immunity certificate has generated some debate among the public. This debate might be a hindrance to the effective realization of this policy. This study aimed to systematically review published research evaluating public feeling of the Covid-19 immunity certificate policy measure and to find which factors might influence its acceptance.

METHODS

We followed the scoping review methods manual by the Joanna Briggs Institute. We included studies with no time limits that presented novel data, and no exclusions have been made based on study design. We excluded articles that presented just expert opinions.

RESULTS

We found and reviewed 17 articles. The included studies were conducted in two main countries (the United Kingdom and Switzerland), with the rest from Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, Taiwan and China. Both qualitative and quantitative studies were included, and nonrepresentative samples were mostly used to explore the public feeling about the Covid-19 immunity certification. The included studies showed that public views on immunity certification are quite contradictory and influenced by age, gender, ethnicity, political orientation and attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccination. The topic more often addressed by the included studies was the public's views on the positive and negative implications of the Covid-19 immunity certificate in terms of ethical, legal and behavioural consequences of this measure.

CONCLUSION

The varying acceptance rates are notable and may partly be linked to differences in demographics, Covid-19 concerns and ideological beliefs, as seen in other health-related tracking policies. Moreover, dominant factors behind the (un)success of this policy are complex and entangled with the cultural and political dimensions rather than being just technical. For this reason, it is important to expand psychosocial research to better understand the concerns behind health certifications and allow planning of culturally based and ethically sound suitable strategies. This would be very relevant to increasing public approval and compliance with this public health measure.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

This does not apply to our work as it was a review paper.

Moving towards Digitising COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate: A Systematic Review of Literature

The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest crisis of our time, having claimed over 2 million lives and shocking the global economy. Scientists and governments have suggested the idea of a digital COVID-19 certificate, to identify vaccinated persons easily. This paper assesses the positions of stakeholders on COVID-19 vaccination certificates, their presentation, and their importance. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was applied in this study. Search terms with Boolean and/or operators were combined to increase relevant results. Four large digital databases were used for the search. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to screen 298 collated studies. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. It is essential to re-examine digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates, considering their benefits, such as real-time detection of fake vaccination certificates and identifying and mapping non-vaccinated areas for strategic vaccination planning. The use of a single electronic platform globally will ease verification processes while bringing economies back to their feet. Digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates may provide balance in this pandemic era. With digital COVID-19 certificate exceeding documentation purposes, it is important to recognise factors such as global economy and human rights, boosting free movements of persons.

Public Perceptions of Harms and Benefit of COVID-19 Immunity Certificate: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Italian Setting

A cross-sectional survey between 29 January 2022 and 3 February 2022 was conducted to understand the public rationale for accepting or rejecting the use of COVID-19 immunity certificates and to identify the psychosocial factors that mostly predict the positive/negative individuals' perceptions of this measure. One thousand twenty-two Italian adults were recruited by a professional panel provider by employing a stratified sampling strategy controlled for gender, age, geographical area of residence, size of the urban centre of residence, employment, and wage. Eight Welch's ANOVAs were then carried out to compare the perception of benefits and the perception of harms among different population groups. Multiple linear regression was carried out to measure the explained variance of benefits perception and harms perception by age, trust in institutions, and concern for health emergencies. The results shows that age, trust in institution, and concern for the COVID-19 emergency explain more variance of perceived benefits than of perceived harms of COVID-19 immunity certificates but the opposite regarding political orientation which explains perceived harms better than perceived benefits. The need for policy improvements is pressing because a large share of the world's population remains unvaccinated. Moreover, our results can serve as vital information for similar health crises that may occur in the future. In addition, our results are expected to offer useful insights into public feelings around the use of digital health information tools.

Digital Marketing: A Unique Multidisciplinary Approach towards the Elimination of Viral Hepatitis

New technologies are supported by the global implementation of the internet. These improvements have deeply affected various disciplines of sciences and consequently changed services such as daily business, particularly health sectors. Innovative digital marketing strategies utilize the channels of social media and retrieved user data to analyze and improve relevant services. These multidisciplinary innovations can assist specialists, physicians and researchers in diagnostic, prophylaxis and treatment issues in the health sector. Accordingly, compared to recent decades, health decision makers are more accurate and trustful in defining new strategies. Interestingly, using social media and mobile health apps in current pandemics of SARS-CoV-2 could be an important instance of the key role of these platforms at the local and global level of health policies. These digital technologies provide platforms to connect public health sectors and health politicians for communicating and spreading relevant information. Adding influencers and campaigns to this toolbox strengthens the implementation of public health programs. In 2016, the WHO adopted a global program to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030. Recent constructive measures that have been used in the battle against COVID-19 could be adopted for the elimination of viral hepatitis program. The presented evidence in our narrative review demonstrates that the application of digital marketing tools to create campaigns on social media, armed with professional influencers, can efficiently consolidate this program. The application of different strategies in using these popular tools will raise the public awareness about viral hepatitis. Subsequently, the availability of an effective vaccine for HBV and antiviral medication for HCV can motivate the audience to take steps towards prophylaxis and screening methods against these infectious illnesses. The encouragement of health policy makers to apply digital communication technologies and comprehensive roadmaps to implement this global program will certainly decrease the burden of viral hepatitis worldwide.

A comparative analysis of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 12 countries/regions around the world: Rationalising health policies for international travel and domestic social activities during the pandemic

As the unprecedented pandemic of COVID-19 became a major barrier during the past two years, many countries were using the “COVID pass” or COVID-19 vaccination certificates in attempts to facilitate effective international travel and domestic social activities. The difficulty remained in how the “COVID pass” from different countries and regions could be mutually recognised. This study surveys the current practice of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in 12 representative countries/regions around the world and provides a comprehensive mapping of the vaccination certificates in these countries/regions. The study compares and contrasts the vaccination certificates in both format and content, including their primary purposes, international accreditation, naming conventions, recipients’ personal information, and the details on vaccines and vaccination. The findings are interpreted in light of implementation practices in each country/region and discussed in relation to their various functions, as well as legal, technical, and ethical considerations. Based on the analysis and discussion recommendations are made on the practice of vaccination certificates in attempts to facilitate effective international travel and domestic social activities.

Immunity debt or vaccination crisis? A multi-method evidence on vaccine acceptance and media framing for emerging COVID-19 variants

Renewed COVID-19 outbreaks, stemming from the highly infectious Delta and Omicron variants, prompted rising fears of a 'pandemic among the unvaccinated'. To address this prevalent vaccination crisis, media framing communication strategies can amplify the scientific evidence on COVID-19 vaccines to reach diverse geographic and socio-economic communities. The critical role of media framing strategies to engage and encourage large populations regarding vaccine acceptance has been rarely studied, despite growing evidence on vaccine hesitancy. The present study used a multi-method approach (i.e., content analysis and quasi-experiments) that unpacked the framing practices employed by the mainstream media in Pakistan. The findings of the content analysis revealed that the media extensively used uncertainty, conflict, consequences, and action rather than new evidence and reassurance frames in its COVID-19 related campaigns. In a series of quasi-experiments involving 720 participants, we manipulated these six frames of COVID-19 related news coverage (i.e., uncertainty, conflict, consequences, action, new evidence, and reassurance) to investigate the underlying mechanism that influences vaccine acceptance. The findings established that the message-consistent effects of media frames manifesting fear (e.g., consequence and uncertainty) and action cues made receivers more supportive of vaccination. The present study findings theoretically address the calls for a more inclusive "community-health reporting model", besides offering new evidence on the media framing strategies to deliver more targeted, meaningful, and effective campaigns to raise public acceptance for COVID-19 vaccines.

Factors associated with the opposition to COVID-19 vaccination certificates: A multi-country observational study from Asia

BACKGROUND

There are ongoing calls to harmonise and increase the use of COVID-19 vaccination certificates (CVCs) in Asia. Identifying groups in Asian societies who oppose CVCs and understanding their reasons can help formulate an effective CVCs policy in the region. However, no formal studies have explored this issue in Asia.

METHOD

The COVID-19 Vaccination Policy Research and Decision-Support Initiative in Asia (CORESIA) was established to address policy questions related to CVCs. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted from June to October 2021 in nine Asian countries. Multivariable logistical regression analyses were performed to identify potential opposers of CVCs.

RESULTS

Six groups were identified as potential opposers of CVCs: (i) unvaccinated (Odd Ratio (OR): 2.01, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.65-2.46); vaccine hesitant and those without access to COVID-19 vaccines; (ii) those not wanting existing NPIs to continue (OR: 2.97, 95% CI: 2.51-3.53); (iii) those with low level of trust in governments (OR: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.02-2.52); (iv) those without travel plans (OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.31-1.90); (v) those expecting no financial gains from CVCs (OR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.98-2.78); and (vi) those disagreeing to use CVCs for employment, education, events, hospitality, and domestic travel.

CONCLUSIONS

Addressing recurring public health bottlenecks such as vaccine hesitancy and equitable access, adherence to policies, public trust, and changing the narrative from 'societal-benefit' to 'personal-benefit' may be necessary and may help increase wider adoption of CVCs in Asia.