(1013) Helping Rural Pharmacists Address COVID-19 Vaccine Concerns: A Social Media Monitoring Strategy

Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people raised concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine, some of which were based on misinformation. These concerns continually evolve as new vaccine formulations are released and guidelines for vaccination change. Since social media is one of the main platforms where people share their thoughts and opinions, this study aimed to observe new concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine on Facebook and X (former Twitter). We used results from these searches to update a vaccine communication training website for rural pharmacists, so they can stay up to date on the latest concerns and how to respond.

Methods: We monitored relevant hashtags related to COVID-19 and/or the vaccine, such as “vaccine”, “#covid19”, “#novaccine”, “#vaccineinjury”, “#scamdemic”, and “#clotshot” on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). We also monitored comments and replies made to official posts by organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Relevant remarks were documented with the date of the post or comment, the main concern expressed, and a quote to exemplify the concern. For comments in official posts, we documented the organization and the post subject. Hashtags and sites were monitored from September 1st, 2023, to October 6th, 2023; the timeframe during which the new guidelines for Fall COVID-19 vaccinations were released. We presented identified concerns to a rural patient panel on a monthly basis to assess whether they should be added to our vaccine communication website.

Results: Prior to the release of the Fall vaccination guidelines on September 15th, concerns expressed included myocarditis, infertility and miscarriages, Ivermectin as an effective alternative to vaccination, and vaccine safety. After the new vaccination guidelines were released, people began to express new concerns, including the specificity of the new vaccine against the most recent variants, insurance coverage for vaccination, and the potential vaccine side effects being worse than contracting the virus itself. Our patient panel considered the concerns about myocarditis and the perceived severity of COVID-19 symptoms pertinent. With that feedback, we updated our communication website for pharmacists to address these concerns.

Conclusions: Many people still express concerns about the efficacy and benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine, and these concerns continue to evolve over time. Being the most accessible health professionals for the community, pharmacists should stay well-informed about current concerns and be provided with updated resources on how to address patient concerns. Our social media monitoring initiative has been an effective approach for identifying new concerns and, after consulting with patients, refining our training materials to enable rural pharmacists to communicate with patients about their concerns.