Impact of rumors, conspiracy and intuition about covid-19 vaccine in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Myth proliferation poses a contemporary challenge which brought about a considerable damage to the initiatives to ongoing efforts to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19. Misinformation targeting vaccines includes baseless claims, such as the false intention to implant microchips in individuals or, more strangely, manipulate the dynamics of the global population. These uncorroborated narratives have resulted in significant harm to initiatives aimed at stopping the spread of the virus.

Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the extent of misinformation among people about the vaccination and risking their lives as a result of it

Methods: The study was designed on cross sectional epidemiological study design with convenient randomized sampling. The study was divided into 2 parts i.e. quantitative and qualitative study designs. For the quantitative study, non-vaccinated people of varying education levels were included i.e. above graduation, graduation, below graduation. Qualitative data was collected from social media including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and blogger websites in Pakistan. Questionnaire was designed to take data about beliefs, rituals, conspiracy and intuition from non-educated personnel while for the rest social media sites were used.

Results: T-test was applied for quantitative evaluation of the data analyzing various parameters of education levels, demographics, infection, symptoms and vaccine status. Significant relationship was found between age and education levels (p<0.05). Dependent t-test were applied on reason why individuals were favoring vaccination.All variables were compared with education levels and found significant relationship (p<0.05). Subjects with education level of graduation and post-graduation were less in number (p<0.05) comparatively against rumors, conspiracy and intuition.  Qualitative data showed 3:1 ratio of the population believed in rumors and conspiracies. We identified top 5 conspiracies, 0% were related to development of the vaccine, 20 % related to safety and efficacy, 20 % related to morbidity and mortality, 40% on religious biasness. 99% were classified as false.

Conclusion: It has been concluded that impact of rumors, conspiracy and intuition create great impact on individual life and can lead to success or failureofanyplan, policy and procedure. Education is key to the adherenceto the aim. In the absence of the fact-based information, the misleading information can lead towards potential damages. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and topic modelling can be the suggested technologies which can play a crucial role in it.