Social Listening Report Number 85: 29 May 2023

Title

Social Listening Report Number 85: 29 May 2023

Type of Report

Social Listening Report

Date

May 29, 2023

Key Trends In the Report

The national state of disaster was still lifted. Concerns had grown over expired Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which were reportedly unavailable to many. Frustration was expressed by those unable to access them, while others believed the expiry was due to low demand driven by misinformation suggesting the pandemic was over. Discussions about cholera had surged online, with users debating water safety and expressing disbelief that cholera deaths were occurring in a country with a massive public budget. Outbreaks of mumps, measles, diphtheria, and whooping cough had raised concerns.

Misinformation by Period

False medical narratives, Expired COVID-19 vaccines. It had been falsely claimed that vaccinated individuals were more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19. here had been attempts to link the cholera outbreak to COVID-19, fuelling distrust in government and public health efforts. Misinformation about the safety of tap water had spread, with some users believing that boiling water was ineffective or unnecessary. Some parents had believed that the measles vaccine caused mumps, which was medically inaccurate and had undermined trust in routine immunisation.

Suggested Recommendations

Produce content for journalists on Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) reporting and key messages.The report had recommended that health authorities improve transparency and consistency in messaging to rebuild public trust, especially around vaccines and outbreak responses. The report had called for improved access to clean water and sanitation, particularly in areas affected by cholera, and for better infrastructure support during loadshedding. Outreach efforts were advised to focus on rebuilding confidence in childhood vaccines, including measles, diphtheria, and HPV.

Lockdown Level

The National State of Disaster lifted

Cumulative Cases

4 126 981

Cumulative Deaths

103 963

Cumulative Hospitalisations

For the period of 2023 in South Africa, there is no publicly released daily, weekly or even monthly continuing series of hospital admissions for COVID-19 through the DATCOV system after 31 December 2022. The NICD report states, "These daily COVID-19 hospitalisation reports have been discontinued from 31 December 2022". This implies that for 2023, hospitalisation data from that system are incomplete or not publicly reported in the same format.

Cumulative Recoveries

4 023 018

Number of vaccines administered for that week

4 094

Total number of vaccines administered to date

39359112

Geographical Region

Africa (South Africa)

Curators of the report

Charity Bhengu

Nombulelo Leburu

Sowo Lebbie (WHO)

HST

NICD

UFS and KeReady

SA Red Cross

AIRA ViralFacts

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