Background: On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee declared the rapid, worldwide spread of COVID-19 a global health emergency. Since then, tireless efforts have been made to mitigate the spread of the disease and its impact, and these efforts have mostly relied on nonpharmaceutical interventions. By December 2020, the safety and efficacy of the first COVID-19 vaccines were demonstrated. The large social media platform Twitter has been used by medical researchers for the analysis of important public health topics, such as the public’s perception on antibiotic use and misuse and human papillomavirus vaccination. The analysis of Twitter-generated data can be further facilitated by using Twitter’s built-in, anonymous polling tool to gain insight into public health issues and obtain rapid feedback on an international scale. During the fast-paced course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Twitter polling system has provided a viable method for gaining rapid, large-scale, international public health insights on highly relevant and timely SARS-CoV-2–related topics. Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the public’s perception on the safety and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines in real time by using Twitter polls. Methods: We developed 2 Twitter polls to explore the public’s views on available COVID-19 vaccines. The surveys were pinned to the Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform Twitter timeline for 1 week in mid-February 2021, and Twitter users and influencers were asked to participate in and retweet the polls to reach the largest possible audience. Results: The adequacy of COVID-19 vaccine safety (ie, the safety of currently available vaccines; poll 1) was agreed upon by 1579 out of 3439 (45.9%) Twitter users. In contrast, almost as many Twitter users (1434/3439, 41.7%) were unsure about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Only 5.2% (179/3439) of Twitter users rated the available COVID-19 vaccines as generally unsafe. Poll 2, which addressed the question of whether users would undergo vaccination, was answered affirmatively by 82.8% (2862/3457) of Twitter users, and only 8% (277/3457) categorically rejected vaccination at the time of polling. Conclusions: In contrast to the perceived high level of uncertainty about the safety of the available COVID-19 vaccines, we observed an elevated willingness to undergo vaccination among our study sample. Since people's perceptions and views are strongly influenced by social media, the snapshots provided by these media platforms represent a static image of a moving target. Thus, the results of this study need to be followed up by long-term surveys to maintain their validity. This is especially relevant due to the circumstances of the fast-paced pandemic and the need to not miss sudden rises in the incidence of vaccine hesitancy, which may have detrimental effects on the pandemic’s course.

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中文翻译：

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人们出于安全考虑而愿意对COVID-19进行疫苗接种：Twitter投票分析

背景：2020年1月30日，世界卫生组织紧急委员会宣布COVID-19在全球的迅速传播是全球性的紧急卫生事件。从那时起，人们一直在不懈地努力以减轻疾病的蔓延及其影响，这些努力主要依靠非药物干预措施。到2020年12月，已证明了首批COVID-19疫苗的安全性和有效性。医学研究人员已使用大型社交媒体平台Twitter来分析重要的公共卫生主题，例如公众对抗生素使用和滥用以及人类乳头瘤病毒疫苗接种的看法。通过使用Twitter的内置功能，可以进一步简化对Twitter生成的数据的分析，匿名民意测验工具，可深入了解公共卫生问题并在国际范围内获得快速反馈。在COVID-19大流行的快节奏过程中，Twitter投票系统提供了一种可行的方法，可用于获取与高度相关且及时的SARS-CoV-2相关主题的快速，大规模，国际公共卫生见解。目的：本研究的目的是通过Twitter投票实时了解公众对COVID-19疫苗的安全性和接受性的看法。方法：我们开展了2次Twitter民意测验，以探讨公众对现有COVID-19疫苗的看法。这些调查被固定在2021年2月中的1周的数字健康与患者安全平台Twitter时间线上，并要求Twitter用户和影响者参与并转推民意调查，以吸引尽可能多的受众。结果：在3439个Twitter用户中，有1579个同意了COVID-19疫苗安全性的充分性（即，当前可用疫苗的安全性；民意调查1）。相反，几乎有许多Twitter用户（1434 / 3439，41.7％）不确定COVID-19疫苗的安全性。Twitter用户中只有5.2％（179/3439）认为可用的COVID-19疫苗总体上不安全。投票2解决了用户是否要进行疫苗接种的问题，Twitter用户中有82.8％（2862/3457）的回答是肯定的，而在投票时只有8％（277/3457）明确拒绝接种疫苗。结论：与现有COVID-19疫苗的安全性存在高度不确定性相比，我们观察到我们的研究样本中接受疫苗接种的意愿有所提高。由于人们的看法和观点受到社交媒体的强烈影响，因此这些媒体平台提供的快照代表移动目标的静态图像。因此，这项研究的结果需要进行长期调查以保持其有效性。由于大流行病的快速发展以及不要错过疫苗犹豫率的突然上升的需要，这一点尤其重要，因为这可能会对大流行的过程产生不利影响。这项研究的结果需要进行长期调查，以保持其有效性。由于大流行病的快速发展以及不要错过疫苗犹豫率的突然上升的需要，这一点尤其重要，因为这可能会对大流行的过程产生不利影响。这项研究的结果需要进行长期调查，以保持其有效性。由于大流行病的流行以及需要避免疫苗犹豫的发生率突然上升的情况，这一点尤其重要，因为这可能会对大流行的过程产生不利影响。

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