Australians’ stance on vaccine based on news, not Twitter chatter

“It takes into consideration how many people commented on a tweet, what is the content of the comments, as well as likes, because if 1000 people like a tweet then you have a strong indication they support it.

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“There were some tweets with misinformation [about COVID vaccines] which received lots of retweets, but did not seem to have a corresponding influence on overall support, which means that people acknowledge it but don’t take it into account.”

Professor Stantic said rather than be discouraged by the relatively low support for the vaccine, he was encouraged that the data showed the value of accurate and timely public messaging during the pandemic.

“When the Prime Minister got the vaccine, public acceptance of the…