Presentations

Abstract

Misinformation about medical treatments has been in circulation by means of print newspapers, magazines, books, and journals. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative for healthcare providers and health departments to understand the dissemination of information and public concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Previous studies have shown videos containing misleading information on COVID-19 vaccines have acquired an alarming number of views prior to the COVID-19 vaccine administration. It is unknown how the content, quality and reliability have changed since the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality and reliability of the most viewed YouTube videos regarding the top two administered COVID-19 vaccines. In a cleared browser, we searched keywords "coronavirus [vaccine 1] vaccine" and "coronavirus [vaccine 2] vaccine" and selected the top 25 videos posted since the administration of the respective vaccines. These videos were sorted by views, relevance, source type and date and independently assessed using the modified DISCERN score and modified Journal of the American Medical Association score as metrics of video quality and reliability. It was found that while non-factual COVID-19 videos only accounted for 20% of the total videos analyzed, there were both a significant 1.5x increase in total views and four times the number of likes. Non-factual videos scored significantly lower in both reliability and quality outcome measures than factual videos. It is important for healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic to be aware of the information their patients receive from YouTube regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and reasons for vaccination hesitancy, so they may better address the spread of misinformation as well as empowering patients to evaluate resources for credibility.