The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that vaccinations prevent 2 to 3 million deaths per year. But despite their critical role in averting and controlling infectious disease outbreaks, misinformation, confusion, and apprehension dissuade some individuals from getting vaccines. Recognizing public knowledge about vaccines can empower organizations and governments to respond to their questions, counteract misconceptions, and address complaints.
What Is Vaccine Hesitancy?
Vaccine hesitancy is the refusal or delay in getting vaccinated despite the availability of vaccines. Because widespread immunization is essential to preventing and ending pandemics, vaccine hesitancy can pose a significant risk to global health.
In the case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, insufficient vaccination may lead to continued community transmission, thereby exacerbating the already profound and far-reaching economic and social impacts.
Questions About Vaccines
Lack of knowledge is one of the main contributing factors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. While decision-makers attempt to mitigate fears by providing information, they may not always be aware of the true concerns of citizens. Understanding and addressing questions could be a difference maker in convincing citizens to get vaccinated.
Recognizing public knowledge about vaccines can empower organizations and governments to respond to their questions, counteract misconceptions, and address complaints.
Misconceptions & Misinformation Surrounding Vaccines
Misinformation has been a major obstacle throughout the pandemic. Conspiracy theories, unproven treatment suggestions, and unfounded vaccine concerns spread like wildfire across social media. Disinformation and maliciously disseminated false reports also gained a strong foothold in many corners of the internet.
Such misconceptions reduce vaccine confidence and increase vaccine hesitancy. Therefore, leaders must understand what false information is spreading in order to counteract it.
Complaints Related to Vaccination
Even citizens who trust vaccines may have complaints about adverse effects, difficulty getting the vaccine, distribution strategies, and more. In many cases, addressing these can streamline processes and make vaccination more convenient and appealing for citizens.
Why Do Leaders Need Real-Time Insight on Vaccine Knowledge?
The last few years have proven that global health crises can develop quickly. In rapidly changing situations, accurate, real-time insight is essential to making informed decisions expeditiously. Surveys and other traditional research methods may yield important information, but they often take so long that the intended results are no longer useful.
Ethical artificial intelligence can provide valuable, real-time insight to steer your communication strategies regarding vaccines. Using machine learning and natural language processing, AI can collect and analyze unstructured data from social media, forums, and other resources to understand the opinions of citizens. Since the results are ready within days rather than months, you can assess the current state of vaccine knowledge rather than relying on information from several months ago.
As new information emerges on the latest global health risks, vaccine knowledge also evolves. Staying on top of citizen feedback can make the difference between an effective vaccine strategy and continued community spread.
The Citibeats platform leverages ethical AI for social understanding. By interpreting citizen feedback in real time, we generate actionable insights on vaccine knowledge to help steer policies and practices.
Beyond vaccines, we also have a variety of customer solutions that shed light on some of today’s most pressing topics, such as migration, sustainability, and gender equality. Schedule a demo today to discuss how Citibeats can inform your decisions with up-to-date information.
