Social Listening Report Number 22: 13 October 2021

Title

Social Listening Report Number 22: 13 October 2021

Type of Report

Social Listening Report

Date

October 13, 2021

Key Trends In the Report

The country was on alert level 1. Vooma Vaccination Weekend saw increased vaccinations due to the presence of political leaders and celebrities. The was discussion on digital vaccination certificates and passports with mixed reactions, there were those who supported passports and those who were concerned about vaccine apartheid. There was a widespread of relief with the end of the third wave. South African travellers were happy about the removal of South Africa from the UK's red list. Lastly, there was misinformation and safety concerns about the vaccine.

Misinformation by Period

Vaccines cause infertility. Natural immunity is better than vaccine immunity. Ivermectin cures / prevents Covid. Misinformation in unverified reports about vaccine injuries and deaths. Anti-vaccine narratives on social media. Incorrect and misleading statistics were circulated to exaggerate risks associated with vaccines.

Suggested Recommendations

Continue with the production of information for community mobiliser to help them debunk rampant misinformation in the communities. Improve digital certificate access and address technical issues with the digital vaccination certificate website. Combact misinformation by providing accurate information and debunking false claims. And Lastly, Support undocumented people by ensuring they have access to vaccines.

Lockdown Level

1

Cumulative Cases

2 913 881

Cumulative Deaths

88 466

Cumulative Hospitalisations

432 406

Cumulative Recoveries

2 802 615

Total number of vaccines administered to date

19 900 407

Geographical Region

Global

Curators of the report

National Department of Health

Stakeholders

National Health Hotline: Reports from the national call centre

Org: NDOH Covid-19 WhatsApp system

WHO Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA)

UNICEF: digital analysis of content on Google, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and digital news

SA Red Cross: Network of over 2,000 community volunteers reporting misinformation and concerns.

Real 411 Media Monitoring Africa: a mis- and disinformation reporting and debunking initiative

COVID Comms: a network of communications specialists that produces information on the pandemic.

DOH Free State & KZN: Provincial Departments of Health

Health Systems Trust, Community Constituency Front (CCF),

Health Enabled

Centre for Communication Impact, Centre for Analytics & Behavioural Change

Medical Research Council, National Institute for Communicable Diseases,

SA Vaccination and Immunisation Centre, HSRC, DG Murray Trust, Right to Care

Universities of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Free State, Wits, Stellenbosch, Sefako Makgatho