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Videos, Views, and Vaccines: Evaluating the Quality of COVID-19 Communications on YouTube

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2021

Harleen K. Marwah ,
Kyle Carlson ,
Natalie A. Rosseau ,
Katherine C. Chretien ,
Terry Kind  and
Hope T. Jackson
Harleen K. Marwah
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
Kyle Carlson*
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
Natalie A. Rosseau
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
Katherine C. Chretien
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA The Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Terry Kind
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
Hope T. Jackson
Affiliation:
The George Washington University, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA
*
Corresponding Author: Kyle Carlson, Email: dkylecarlson@gwu.edu
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Abstract

Objectives:

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is introduced, it is critical to recognize that public opinion on vaccines is largely influenced by health communications, with YouTube being a major source of information and misinformation. This analysis graded the accuracy, quality, and reliability of the most viewed YouTube videos depicting COVID-19 and vaccinations over a 6-mo period.

Methods:

We collected hyperlinks for the 150 most viewed YouTube videos discussing COVID-19 from January through June 2020. Closed captioning data were searched for the term “vaccine,” yielding 32 videos. This sample was evaluated for quality, accuracy, and reliability using a rubric that incorporated existing instruments: Global Quality Scale (GQS), JAMA Benchmark Criteria, and DISCERN.

Results:

These 32 videos had 139,764,188 views at the time of data collection. The majority of videos received low scores, with network news sources receiving the lowest scores overall.

Conclusions:

The overall quality of COVID-19 YouTube videos related to vaccines may be low and raises a precautionary alert for the public consuming these videos and for health-care providers working to provide the best information to their patients. Existing scoring tools may not capture the complexities of social media. New tools could allow for a better understanding of the modern landscape of health communications.

Keywords

COVID-19vaccinationssocial mediaYouTubequality
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e42
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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