‘Vaccinfluencers’: a study of influential voices criticizing COVID-19 vaccination efforts and negative vaccine information discourse on Twitter

In late 2020, the large-scale rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to combat the global pandemic ignited a firestorm of debates and media discourse on vaccines. We conducted a discourse analysis of tweets (n = 875) criticizing the COVID-19 vaccination process and/or containing negative vaccine information (NVI) authored by influential Twitter accounts receiving the highest user engagement. Results showed news media and private citizens to be important influencers of NVI discourse criticizing the COVID-19 vaccination process on Twitter. The most frequently expressed beliefs centered around ineffective vaccine policies and inadequate government responses. A content analysis revealed that on average, tweets criticizing a broader inadequate public health response were the most retweeted. Statistically significant differences in vaccine discourse were found between Canada and the United States, underscoring the importance of local context-specific factors that influence how Twitter users construct issues related to COVID-19 vaccination. Our results suggest that satisfaction with the leaders in charge of the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines may have depended more on how those leaders acted rather than actual vaccination rates. Studying concerns and criticisms toward vaccination and NVI are key to identifying areas of change in vaccine policies and programs that citizens and other actors want to see implemented.