AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF COVID-19 VACCINE HESITANCY AND SOCIAL MEDIA MISINFORMATION ON THE VACCINE AMONG ANAMBRA YOUTHS

Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout globally, COVID-19 vaccine misinformation has been widely disseminated on different social media platforms. This study, therefore, sought to find out the level of exposure to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on Facebook and WhatsApp among youths in Anambra State, the perception of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on the selected social media platforms among youths in Anambra State, the extent to which youths in Anambra State believe COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on the selected social media platforms, the extent to which the COVID-19 misinformation promote vaccine hesitancy among youths in Anambra State, the social media platform that conveys COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and the effects of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on youths in Anambra State. For these objectives to be achieved, the researcher adopted the descriptive survey design, determined the samples (397) she studied using Taro Yamane formula and selected the samples using multi-stage sampling procedure and random sampling technique in the course of using the procedure. She used frequency tables, simple percentages and the arithmetic mean to analyze the data she collected from this study. From the study, the researcher found, among others, that Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) and Paul University students’ perception of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on the selected social media platforms is that it leads to vaccine hesitancy. Based on her findings, she recommended, among others, that Anambra youths should always discourage people from posting any form of misinformation on social media.