Narratives about vaccination in the age of fake news: a content analysis on social networks

Abstract

The vaccine is a key resource for the promotion of public health. However, an increasing vaccine hesitancy has been associated with disinformation on social networks. In this context, it is important to investigate which contents about vaccines have been most consumed in these spaces. In our article, we analyze one hundred links containing the word “vaccine” with more engagement in social networks between May 22, 2018, and May 21, 2019, using an adapted version of the content analysis protocol developed by the Ibero-American Network for Monitoring and Training in Science Journalism. Our aim is to investigate the speeches, frameworks and broadcasters that most mobilized the public debate in these digital platforms. By analyzing the general characteristics, the themes, the narratives, the treatment and the actors mobilized by these contents, we conclude that, although they mostly convey a positive view about vaccines and bring verifiable data, there are gaps in the capacity to remedy possible doubts concerning vaccines and explain how vaccination should be inserted in people’s daily health care.