 |
| Francisco Marquez |
Misinformation plays a large role in online discussions about COVID vaccines, according to a new study from LLYC.
The firm's Vaccine Conversation Trends Study finds that the most widespread of the myths being spread about the virus is that it alters the DNA of recipients.
LLYC’s study looked at 2M posts published between November 2020 and April 2021 from accounts in the US. Pro-vaccination posts outnumber anti-vaccination posts by a two-to-one margin—440,300 to 219,400—with about half of the posts judged to be neutral.
Scientists and journalists led the online pro-vaccine community, the study found. Journalists, however, were also a major source of anti-vaccine commentary, along with lawyers. Women voicing concerns about the vaccine’s possible side effects during pregnancy also accounted for a sizeable share of the anti-vaccine conversation.
In the Hispanic community, the pro-vaccine forces seem to be gaining steam. The study says that while most Hispanic respondents expressed doubt and fear about the vaccine in a November 2020 survey, by this April, “most of the community had become pro-vaccine.”
LLYC also found that certain states were hot spots for online COVID commentary. California was home to the largest number of COVID vaccine-related posts, accounting for close to 16 percent of the total online conversation. New York, Texas and Florida also had major presences. Those four states also generated 43 percent of the total anti-vaccine conversation, which according to LLYC reveals “an opportunity to focus vaccination education on these areas.”
Unexpectedly, the study says that vaccine laboratories and pharmaceutical companies are not playing a leading role in the online pro-vaccination conversation.
It also reports that some online commenters are having a far larger effect than others. What it calls “power profiles” are leading the conversation, with 40,000 profiles producing 33 percent of all Twitter posts about the COVID vaccine.
“Our findings can help policymakers on the regional and federal levels, as well as interested private parties, create strategies to address the vast amount of vaccine misinformation in our country,” said LLYC DC office director Francisco Marquez.
View the full LLCY vaccine trends study.
Research has always been a “black box,” but with the adoption of new technologies and reduced budgets, less rigorous and even fraudulent methods have proliferated at the hands of inexperienced vendors.
Changing marketing forces continued to push back against both growth and profitability for PR agencies in 2025, according to a recently released report from Gould+Partners.
Japan has kept its position as the country with the strongest ties to the U.S. for the third consecutive year in the recently released 2026 BGR Impact Index.
The split between the growing number of sources that audiences can go to for information and the increasing consolidation at the biggest outlets in the media industry is resulting in an environment that poses significant challenges for communicators, according to a new study from Global Strategy Group.
Local journalism is becoming an increasingly rare commodity, which is having an effect on everything from civic engagement to personal loneliness to high borrowing rates for municipal loans, according to a study from Muck Rack.
