Covid 19

Only vaccinations against Covid-19 at scale can help us defeat the virus, along with it’s continuously evolving strains. It is clear that vaccines are highly effective at protecting us against the worst effects of Covid-19 – hospitalisation and death.

While the prospect of achieving herd immunity is now too lofty a goal to aspire to, widespread vaccination is also the only way to reduce the evolution of more dangerous variants, to reduce the death rate and to eventually allow us all to return to more connected lives.

Governments have generally set (relatively modest) vaccination goals at around 70% of adults. While a range of studies suggest relatively high levels of vaccine acceptance (in some cases upwards of 70%) this has not translated into ‘jabs in arms’, and it is possible – even likely – that vaccine inertia will result in only 50-55% of adults vaccinating in the relatively near future.

There are two clear needs that can be met through our social media based research and intervention work:

1. There is clear evidence that since before the vaccine was even developed, organised disinformation has and is being spread on social media, with the clear intention of undermining vaccine programmes – this on a global, regional and country specific basis.
2. Aside from deliberate disinformation, knowledge gaps, understandable concerns and a palpable sense of anxiety are prevalent. Such communication campaigns that have been launched have failed to push back what at times feels like a tide of negative sentiment, 

The broad goals of our Covid-19 Vaccine Inertia work are to uncover and push back against the networks that spread disinformation around the vaccine, distribute credible and factual information to counter both disinformation and concerns expressed on social media and to, through online dialogue, help address people’s worries and assist in driving vaccine demand. 

The goal of the cluster of anti- vaccine hesitancy projects is to establish a capability that can help understand what is driving vaccine hesitancy narratives online, so that we can better; (1) understand what narratives may potentially spill over into broader society and have damaging impacts on recovery efforts, (2) act on online narratives that foster vaccine hesitancy, (3) foster resilience to vaccine hesitancy narratives in broader society, and (4) establish a footprint across Sub-Saharan Africa so that other critical thematic projects (e.g. around Climate Change) can be similarly fostered.