Social Listening Report Number 67: 19 September 2022
- Title
- Social Listening Report Number 67: 19 September 2022
- Type of Report
- Social Listening Report
- Date
- September 19, 2022
- Key Trends In the Report
- The national state of disaster was lifted. The report covered COVID-19 related adverse vaccine concerns such as myocarditis, and guillain-barre syndrome. Other related diseases covered outside COVID-19 included misinformation related to monkeypox and the impact COVID-19 has on TB patients. Laslty, the misinformation on the report included misinformation on COVID-19 and its vaccines, including vaccine safety and its efficacy.
- Misinformation by Period
- People had spread false claims that Covid-19 vaccines caused heart attacks, myocarditis, infertility, erectile dysfunction, and even death. There were rumours that side effects were being hidden and that the SA adverse reactions site showed many deaths. Misinformation circulated that the Pfizer vaccine caused miscarriages in pregnant women.
- Suggested Recommendations
- The TB recovery plan had to be included in broader health messaging so that everyone in the public sector and communities understood how it would be implemented. It was advised that political unrest should not interfere with the progress made in strengthening the country’s healthcare systems. A unified platform within the National Department of Health was proposed to share the latest scientific updates on HIV/AIDS, TB, Covid-19, and other communicable diseases. Sensitisation training on Covid-19 and HIV/AIDS was recommended for both public and private sector members to ensure widespread understanding of their impact.
- Lockdown Level
- The National State of Disaster lifted
- Cumulative Cases
- 4 016 037
- Cumulative Deaths
- 104 369
- Cumulative Hospitalisations
- 543 150
- Cumulative Recoveries
- 3 911 668
- Total number of vaccines administered to date
- 37 603 882
- Geographical Region
- Africa (South Africa)
- Curators of the report
- Charity Bhengu (NDOH)
- Phelokazi Mkungeka & Herkulaas Combrink (UFS)
- and William Bird (Real 411).
- 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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