Analyzing Social Media Messaging on Masks and Vaccines: A Case Study on Misinformation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Misinformation and disinformation during infectious disease outbreaks can hinder public health responses. This analysis examines comments about masks and COVID-19 vaccines on Twitter during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a content analysis of 6,600 randomly selected English-language tweets, examining tweets for health, political, of societal frames; inclusion of true information, false information, partially true/misleading information, and/or opinion; political components; risk frames; and use of specific types of rumor. We found false and partially false information in 22% of tweets in which we were able to assess veracity. Tweets with misinformation were more likely to mention vaccines, be political in nature, and promote risk elevating messages (p<0.5). We also found false information about vaccines as early as January 2020, nearly a year before COVID-19 vaccines became widely available. These findings highlight a need for new policies and strategies aimed to counter harmful and misleading messaging.

The Biological Weapons Convention should endorse the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct

The Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists are a set of ten principles designed to promote responsible science and strengthen biosecurity governance. They should be broadly adopted, including being endorsed by the Biological Weapons Convention at its 9th Review Conference in November 2022.

Using prediction polling to harness collective intelligence for disease forecasting

Background

The global spread of COVID-19 has shown that reliable forecasting of public health related outcomes is important but lacking.

Methods

We report the results of the first large-scale, long-term experiment in crowd-forecasting of infectious-disease outbreaks, where a total of 562 volunteer participants competed over 15 months to make forecasts on 61 questions with a total of 217 possible answers regarding 19 diseases.

Results

Consistent with the “wisdom of crowds” phenomenon, we found that crowd forecasts aggregated using best-practice adaptive algorithms are well-calibrated, accurate, timely, and outperform all individual forecasters.

Conclusions

Crowd forecasting efforts in public health may be a useful addition to traditional disease surveillance, modeling, and other approaches to evidence-based decision making for infectious disease outbreaks.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12083-y.

Outbreak response operations during the US measles epidemic, 2017-19

BACKGROUND

To understand operational challenges involved with responding to US measles outbreaks in 2017-19 and identify applicable lessons in order to inform preparedness and response operations for future outbreaks, particularly with respect to specific operational barriers and recommendations for outbreak responses among insular communities.

METHODS

From August 2019 to January 2020, we conducted 11 telephone interviews with 18 participants representing state and local health departments and community health centers that responded to US measles outbreaks in 2017-19, with a focus on outbreaks among insular communities. We conducted qualitative, thematic coding to identify and characterize key operational challenges and lessons identified by the interviewees.

RESULTS

We categorized principal insights into 5 topic areas: scale of the response, vaccination operations, exclusion policies, community engagement, and countering anti-vaccine efforts. These topics address resource-intensive aspects of these outbreak responses, including personnel demands; guidance needed to support response operations and reduce transmission, such as excluding exposed or at-risk individuals from public spaces; operational challenges and barriers to vaccination and other response activities; and effectively engaging and educating affected populations, particularly with respect to insular and vulnerable communities.

CONCLUSIONS

Measles outbreak responses are resource intensive, which can quickly overwhelm existing public health capacities. Early and effective coordination with trusted leaders and organizations in affected communities, including to provide vaccination capacity and facilitate community engagement, can promote efficient response operations. The firsthand experiences of public health and healthcare personnel who responded to measles outbreaks, including among insular communities, provide evidence-based operational lessons that can inform future preparedness and response operations for outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases.

A US metropolitan county health department's response to a measles outbreak in a childcare facility - challenges faced and lessons learned

AIMS

In June 2018, the Multnomah County Health Department located in Portland, Oregon, US, responded to a measles exposure in a local childcare facility. This analysis describes lessons learned and challenges encountered during this measles response that may inform public health policy and help other local public health authorities prepare for measles outbreaks. These lessons will become increasingly important as measles cases continue to increase in both the US and abroad.

METHODS

A semi-structured videoconference interview was conducted with nine health department staff who were directly involved in the health department's response to the measles outbreak. Interview notes were iteratively discussed between all authors to identify those outbreak response challenges and lessons learned that were generalizable to the broader public health community.

RESULTS

Some of the key challenges and lessons learned included the need for increased provider recognition and reporting of measles cases, difficulty in determining which staff and children to exclude from attending daycare during the 21-day postexposure monitoring period, determining who would be prioritized to receive immunoglobulin, and the need for childcare staff vaccine status requirements.

CONCLUSION

Lessons from this response highlight important considerations for public health practitioners and policy makers. Given the relative severity of measles and the potential for spread in facilities that serve infants and young children, the public health community must continue to address key gaps through planning and policy.

The public's role in COVID-19 vaccination: Human-centered recommendations to enhance pandemic vaccine awareness, access, and acceptance in the United States

Given the social and economic upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders, health officials, and members of the public are eager for solutions. One of the most promising, if they can be successfully developed, is vaccines. While the technological development of such countermeasures is currently underway, a key social gap remains. Past experience in routine and crisis contexts demonstrates that uptake of vaccines is more complicated than simply making the technology available. Vaccine uptake, and especially the widespread acceptance of vaccines, is a social endeavor that requires consideration of human factors. To provide a starting place for this critical component of a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States, the 23-person Working Group on Readying Populations for COVID-19 Vaccines was formed. One outcome of this group is a synthesis of the major challenges and opportunities associated with a future COVID-19 vaccination campaign and empirically-informed recommendations to advance public understanding of, access to, and acceptance of vaccines that protect against SARS-CoV-2. While not inclusive of all possible steps than could or should be done to facilitate COVID-19 vaccination, the working group believes that the recommendations provided are essential for a successful vaccination program.

iGEM and the Biotechnology Workforce of the Future

An important factor in growing the US bioeconomy is recruiting and training its future workforce. Other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields have relied on diverse educational opportunities for recruitment, including prestigious high school and collegiate competitions. For genetic engineering and synthetic biology, there are very few competitions; they include the Biodesign Competition and the much larger and scientifically focused International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. iGEM, run by an independent nonprofit organization, is often cited as a measure of progress in developing the synthetic biology workforce. Starting in 2021, iGEM will move its main competitive event, the "Giant Jamboree," from its long-standing home in Boston to Paris, which is likely to negatively affect participation by the US team. In this article, we describe the value of iGEM to the bioeconomy and its upcoming challenges through a review of available literature, observation of the iGEM Jamboree, and interviews with 10 US-based iGEM team coaches. The coaches expressed positive views about the iGEM process for their students in providing a hands-on biotechnology experience, but they were concerned about the funding US students received to participate in iGEM compared with teams from other countries. They were also concerned that the relocation to Paris would negatively affect or preclude their participation. Possible options to continue the benefits of experiential learning in synthetic biology are discussed, including alternative funding for iGEM teams through a grant process and the need for additional biology competitions.

Operational stresses on New York City Health+Hospitals Health System frontline hospitals during the 2017-18 influenza season

OBJECTIVE

Identify operational lessons to support hospital and health system preparedness and response for sea-sonal and pandemic influenza based on firsthand experiences from the 2017-2018 influenza season.

DESIGN

We conducted semistructured, retrospective interviews with New York City Health+Hospitals (NYCH+H) personnel to gather firsthand experiences from the 2017-2018 influenza season and evaluated stress data across four operational domains reported by NYCH+H hospitals during the 2017-2018 influenza season.

SETTING

Frontline hospitals in the NYCH+H health system during and after the 2017-2018 influenza season.

PARTICIPANTS

Interviews conducted with personnel from 5 NYCH+H frontline hospitals. Operational stress data re-ported by 11 NYCH+H hospitals during the 2017-2018 influenza season.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Operational challenges and lessons from frontline hospitals responding to severe sea-sonal influenza.

RESULTS

Operational stresses during the 2017-2018 influenza season varied over the influenza season, between facilities, and across operational domains. Patient surge and staff absenteeism pushed some facilities to their limits, and supply shortages highlighted shortcomings in existing procurement systems. Resources tied to pandemic influ-enza were unavailable without a pandemic declaration.

CONCLUSION

Seasonal influenza poses dynamic operational stresses across health systems and cities, potentially causing major impacts outside of declared pandemics. Lessons from NYCH+H can help other hospitals and health systems anticipate operational challenges, but novel solutions are needed to mitigate effects of patient surge and per-sonnel and supply shortages during severe influenza seasons and pandemics. Improved data collection can help health systems better understand operational stresses and challenges across their facilities.

State by state implementation of Zika virus testing guidance in the United States in 2017 and 2018

In 2015 and 2016, outbreaks of the Zika virus began occurring in the Americas and the Caribbean. Following the introduction of this new threat, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued testing guidance for the nation’s state public health laboratories. We collected and analyzed testing guidance for all fifty states and the District of Columbia for both 2017 and 2018. In both years, state testing guidance was consistent for men and non-pregnant women, but there was notable variation in guidance for pregnant women. In addition, there were changes between the two years as testing algorithms shifted toward guidance that recommended testing in more limited circumstances. States adopted large, or complete, portions of CDC testing guidance, but were not required to conform completely, 33% of states had identical guidance in 2017 and 49% in 2018. Some of these trends, such as specifying that testing be contingent on travel, or sexual contact with an individual who has recently traveled, to an area where the Zika virus was circulating, presents a potential deficiency in the United States surveillance capacity. Understanding variations in state testing guidance enables public health professionals to better understand ongoing surveillance. This analysis provides insight into the testing practices for the various states across the country. Better understanding of how states approach Zika testing, and how that testing changes over time, will increase the public health community’s ability to interpret future Zika case counts.

Operational stresses on New York City Health+Hospitals Health System frontline hospitals during the 2017-18 influenza season

OBJECTIVE

Identify operational lessons to support hospital and health system preparedness and response for sea-sonal and pandemic influenza based on firsthand experiences from the 2017-2018 influenza season.

DESIGN

We conducted semistructured, retrospective interviews with New York City Health+Hospitals (NYCH+H) personnel to gather firsthand experiences from the 2017-2018 influenza season and evaluated stress data across four operational domains reported by NYCH+H hospitals during the 2017-2018 influenza season.

SETTING

Frontline hospitals in the NYCH+H health system during and after the 2017-2018 influenza season.

PARTICIPANTS

Interviews conducted with personnel from 5 NYCH+H frontline hospitals. Operational stress data reported by 11 NYCH+H hospitals during the 2017-2018 influenza season.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Operational challenges and lessons from frontline hospitals responding to severe seasonal influenza.

RESULTS

Operational stresses during the 2017-2018 influenza season varied over the influenza season, between facilities, and across operational domains. Patient surge and staff absenteeism pushed some facilities to their limits, and supply shortages highlighted shortcomings in existing procurement systems. Resources tied to pandemic influ-enza were unavailable without a pandemic declaration.

CONCLUSION

Seasonal influenza poses dynamic operational stresses across health systems and cities, poten-tially causing major impacts outside of declared pandemics. Lessons from NYCH+H can help other hospitals and health systems anticipate operational challenges, but novel solutions are needed to mitigate effects of patient surge and personnel and supply shortages during severe influenza seasons and pandemics. Improved data collection can help health systems better understand operational stresses and challenges across their facilities.

Misinformation and the US Ebola communication crisis: analyzing the veracity and content of social media messages related to a fear-inducing infectious disease outbreak

Background

The Ebola communication crisis of 2014 generated widespread fear and attention among Western news media, social media users, and members of the United States (US) public. Health communicators need more information on misinformation and the social media environment during a fear-inducing disease outbreak to improve communication practices. The purpose of this study was to describe the content of Ebola-related tweets with a specific focus on misinformation, political content, health related content, risk framing, and rumors.

Methods

We examined tweets from a random 1% sample of all tweets published September 30th - October 30th, 2014, filtered for English-language tweets mentioning “Ebola” in the content or hashtag, that had at least 1 retweet (N = 72,775 tweets). A randomly selected subset of 3639 (5%) tweets were evaluated for inclusion. We analyzed the 3113 tweets that meet inclusion criteria using public health trained human coders to assess tweet characteristics (joke, opinion, discord), veracity (true, false, partially false), political context, risk frame, health context, Ebola specific messages, and rumors. We assessed the proportion of tweets with specific content using descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests.

Results

Of non-joke tweets, 10% of Ebola-related tweets contained false or partially false information. Twenty-five percent were related to politics, 28% contained content that provoked reader response or promoted discord, 42% contained risk elevating messages and 72% were related to health. The most frequent rumor mentioned focused on government conspiracy. When comparing tweets with true information to tweets with misinformation, a greater percentage of tweets with misinformation were political in nature (36% vs 15%) and contained discord-inducing statements (45% vs 10%). Discord-inducing statements and political messages were both significantly more common in tweets containing misinformation compared with those without(p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Results highlight the importance of anticipating politicization of disease outbreaks, and the need for policy makers and social media companies to build partnerships and develop response frameworks in advance of an event. While each public health event is different, our findings provide insight into the possible social media environment during a future epidemic and could help optimize potential public health communication strategies.

The Scientist Citizen and the Citizen Scientist: Blurring the Lines

The scientific enterprise satisfies the innate human urge to understand the world; these efforts have led to both improvements and dangers to society. The storied history of relationships between scientists and citizens suggests that the lines between these 2 sectors of society are often blurred. Here we discuss these relationships on the context of animal welfare. We briefly outline the history of animal welfare in research, and the entry of citizens into the discussion, leading to the Animal Welfare Act of 1966. The commitment of scientists to society, in this context, is the act of whistleblowing in research. As medical and life sciences technologies continue to expand at breathtaking rates, the landscape that both scientists and citizens must navigate increases in complexity. We discuss the responsibility of both the scientist and the citizen, as members of the voting public, in the face of the challenges of the future.