Social Listening Report Number 60: 01 August 2022
- Title
- Social Listening Report Number 60: 01 August 2022
- Type of Report
- Social Listening Report
- Date
- August 1, 2022
- Key Trends In the Report
- The national state of disaster was still lifted. Many South Africans believed the Covid-19 pandemic had ended, leading to a significant decline in interest in vaccinations. Even before the pandemic, South Africa struggled with low childhood vaccination coverage. The Covid-19 crisis worsened this issue, with only 76.8% of children reportedly receiving all required vaccines. The WHO declared monkeypox a global health emergency, though experts disagreed on the level of concern.
- Misinformation by Period
- False claims circulated that Covid-19 vaccines caused infertility, erectile dysfunction, or impotence.Misinformation suggested that vaccines were experimental or part of a population control agenda. There were baseless fears that vaccines altered DNA or contained harmful substances. Reports emerged of fake vaccine certificates being sold or used. Ivermectin and traditional remedies like garlic, sage, or muthi were falsely promoted as more effective than vaccines. Some claimed monkeypox was a side effect of Covid-19 vaccines. Claims that the pandemic was a hoax.
- Suggested Recommendations
- Authorities were encouraged to increase public awareness about other vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles and monkeypox, especially in light of declining childhood immunisation rates. It was recommended that communication strategies be tailored to reach undocumented individuals and marginalised communities, ensuring they had access to accurate vaccine information and services. Training healthcare professionals to effectively address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation was advised.
- Lockdown Level
- The National State of Disaster lifted
- Cumulative Cases
- 4 005 124
- Cumulative Deaths
- 104 168
- Cumulative Hospitalisations
- 540 818
- Cumulative Recoveries
- 3 900 956
- Total number of vaccines administered to date
- 37 262 578
- Geographical Region
- Africa (South Africa)
- Curators of the report
- Herkulaas Combrink
- Charity Bhengu
- William Bird
- Peter Benjamin
- 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
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