General vaccine trends in India 11
Apr 09, 2021
Vaccine Tracker: India began the second phase of vaccination against the novel coronavirus on 1 March. According to the health ministry, 5.22 crore vaccine doses have been administered to beneficiaries in the country.
1. Common Misinformation:
- 2020 video is now shared as Yogi Adityanath announcing new lockdown measures in UP
- World Health Organization (WHO) is not giving $ 210,000 to people who have COVID-19
- A post on Facebook claims that the name of Covid-19 vaccine developer AstraZeneca translates to ‘weapon that kills’
- A post on Facebook claims that Chikoo is an effective remedy to kill COVID-19
- A message is going viral on social media post the death of Dr. Hariharini after being injected by Diclofenac (painkiller) by her husband who is also a doctor after COVID-19 vaccination
- Another message is also being virally shared on closed groups including WhatsApp that the virus dies completely at 70°C and inhaling steam essentially serves the purpose. In this regard, there was a proposition to start a ‘steam week’ to end COVID-19
- A COVID-19 vaccine Q&A sheet has been circulating on social media including Reddit with a checklist of claims that the mRNA vaccines are experimental, there is a risk of autoimmune disease, vaccines cause death/injuries among others
2. Over performing/common trends in the last week:
- CrowdTangle Insights from the previous week- the post on Paresh Rawal tests COVID-19 positive weeks after first vaccine shot has overperformed by 33.88 times
- The post on Pfizer, Moderna vaccines highly effective even after 1st shot: US study; The risk of infection fell 90 percent by two weeks after the second shot, the study of just under 4,000 people found has overperformed by 20.91 time
3. On-ground surveys on COVID-19:
- A government survey found that while 90% people were aware of the importance of masks, over 50% do not wear masks
- After analyzing a sample of anti-vaccine content that was shared on Facebook and Twitter, The Center for Countering Digital Hate’s report found that 65% of the content could be traced to those 12 individuals, dubbed as “the Disinformation Dozen”