Exploring COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Twitter (x): A Case of #VaccineRollOutSA

Social media has become part of the risk communication strategy of governments all over the world. However, the information posted on social media is not validated and may contribute to the problem of misinformation. In South Africa, one of the causes of vaccine hesitancy during the Covid-19 pandemic was attributed to misinformation on social media. The aim of this study is to investigate what type of information was posted using the #VaccineRolloutSA on Twitter that may influence vaccine hesitancy. A total of one hundred tweets with the hashtag #VaccineRollOutSA were harvested from Twitter (X) and thematically analysed. Using the Motivational Theory of Role Modelling and Health Belief models, the tweets were categorised according to the Twitter users’ opinions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. The categories identified included Inspirational, Misinformation, Informative, Political, and Poll. Eighteen percent of the tweets were found to be misinformation. The recommendation of the study is that governments must be aware of misinformation on social media and incorporate strategies to mitigate this risk in the risk communication plan.