Jun Jungmi, Wickersham Karen, Zain Ali, Ford Rachel, Zhang Nanlan, Ciccarelli Carl, Kim Sei-Hill, Liang Chen
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
College of Nursing, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
J Health Commun. 2023 Jan 2;28(1):1-14. doi: 10.1080/10810730.2023.2168800. Epub 2023 Feb 8.
We investigate social media discourses on the relationship between cancer and COVID-19 vaccines focusing on the key textual topics, themes reflecting the voice of cancer community, authors who contribute to the discourse, and valence toward vaccines. We analyzed 6,427 tweets about cancer and COVID-19 vaccines, posted from when vaccines were approved in the U.S. (December 2020) to the February 2022. We mixed quantitative text mining, manual coding and statistical analysis, and inductive qualitative thematic analysis. Nearly 16% of the tweets posted by a cancer community member mentioned about refusal or delay of their vaccination at the state/local level during the initial rollout despite the CDC's recommendation to prioritize adults with high-risk medical conditions. Most tweets posted by cancer patients (pro = 82.4% vs. anti = 5.1%) and caregivers (pro = 89.2% vs. anti = 4.2%) showed positive valence toward vaccines and advocated for vaccine uptake increase among cancer patients and the general population. Vaccine hesitancy, self-reported adverse events, and COVID-19 disruption of cancer treatment also appeared as key themes. The cancer community called for actions to improve vaccination procedures to become safe and accessible especially for elderly cancer patients, develop COVID-19 vaccines suitable for varying type, stage, and treatment of cancer, and advance cancer vaccines. Future research should continue surveilling conversations around continuous impacts of COVID-19 interference with the cancer control continuum, beyond vaccination, focusing on the voice and concern of cancer community.
我们研究了社交媒体上关于癌症与新冠疫苗关系的话语，重点关注关键文本主题、反映癌症群体声音的主题、参与该话语的作者以及对疫苗的态度。我们分析了从美国批准疫苗（2020年12月）到2022年2月期间发布的6427条关于癌症和新冠疫苗的推文。我们结合了定量文本挖掘、人工编码和统计分析以及归纳定性主题分析。尽管疾病控制与预防中心建议优先为患有高危疾病的成年人接种疫苗，但在疫苗首次推出期间，癌症群体成员发布的推文中近16%提到了在州/地方层面拒绝或推迟接种疫苗。大多数癌症患者（支持率=82.4%，反对率=5.1%）和护理人员（支持率=89.2%，反对率=4.2%）发布的推文对疫苗表现出积极态度，并主张增加癌症患者和普通人群的疫苗接种率。疫苗犹豫、自我报告的不良事件以及新冠疫情对癌症治疗的干扰也成为关键主题。癌症群体呼吁采取行动，改善疫苗接种程序，使其对老年癌症患者尤其安全且可及，研发适合不同癌症类型、阶段和治疗情况的新冠疫苗，并推进癌症疫苗的研发。未来的研究应继续监测围绕新冠疫情对癌症控制连续过程的持续影响的讨论，范围不限于疫苗接种，还要关注癌症群体的声音和关切。
