Negative vaccine sentiments on South African social media platforms before the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods study

Abstract

Relatively high levels of pre-existing negative sentiments toward vaccines were expressed in the pre-pandemic era, with HPV vaccines attracting the most negative comments. These results provide a baseline for comparison to post-pandemic social media studies and may prove useful for measuring the impact in South Africa of global policies introduced to limit the spread of vaccine mis- and disinformation.