A nurse gives a COVID-19 vaccine shot to medical workers at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul on March 4, 2021, in this photo taken by the joint press corps. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — On South Korean social media, public opinion about coronavirus vaccines appears to have changed from anticipation to anxiety, a recent study showed.
The advertising agency KPR & Associates, Inc. analyzed about 720,000 cases of COVID-19-related social media big data for the period from February 2020 to January 2021.
In the first quarter of last year, the initial stage in the COVID-19 pandemic, there was high anticipation for a coronavirus vaccine.
The atmosphere, however, started changing from the latter part of last year, with concern about the potential side effects of the coronavirus vaccine growing.
A health worker picks up a vial containing COVID-19 vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca, at a public health center in Seoul on March 11, 2021. (Yonhap)
Mass media mainly focused on vaccine development and procurement-related information but on social media, the reliability of the vaccine and government policy were frequently mentioned.
The analysis of keywords showed that the share of those related to vaccine safety was high on Twitter.
Also rampant on social media are voices of concern about the side effects of the vaccine and negative comments about reported deaths among those who have already been vaccinated.
Image Credit: Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
