VaxPulse: Monitoring of Online Public Concerns to Enhance Post-licensure Vaccine Surveillance

TL;DR

VaxPulse is a framework that enhances vaccine safety surveillance by integrating online public sentiment analysis, addressing multilingual concerns, and providing insights to improve vaccine uptake and misinformation management.

Contribution

The paper introduces VaxPulse, a novel multi-step framework that combines adverse event data with online sentiment analysis, including multilingual considerations, for improved vaccine safety monitoring.

Findings

Effective identification of public concerns from online media.

Improved stratification of vaccine hesitancy across communities.

Demonstrated adaptability through real-world case studies.

Abstract

The recent vaccine-related infodemic has amplified public concerns, highlighting the need for proactive misinformation management. We describe how we enhanced the reporting surveillance system of Victoria's vaccine safety service, SAEFVIC, through the incorporation of new information sources for public sentiment analysis, topics of discussion, and hesitancies about vaccinations online. Using VaxPulse, a multi-step framework, we integrate adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) with sentiment analysis, demonstrating the importance of contextualising public concerns. Additionally, we emphasise the need to address non-English languages to stratify concerns across ethno-lingual communities, providing valuable insights for vaccine uptake strategies and combating mis/disinformation. The framework is applied to real-world examples and a case study on women's vaccine hesitancy, showcasing its benefits and adaptability by identifying public opinion from online media.