Using Twitter to Understand COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Ageism During the Pandemic.

During the rollout of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, older adults in high-income countries were often prioritized for inoculation in efforts to reduce COVID-19-related mortality. However, this prioritization may have contributed to intergenerational tensions and ageism, particularly with the limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines. This study examines Twitter discourse to understand vaccine-related ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future vaccination policies and practices to reduce ageism. We collected 1,369 relevant tweets on Twitter using the Twint application in Python from December 8, 2020, to December 31, 2021. Tweets were analyzed using thematic analysis, and steps were taken to ensure rigor. Our research identified four main themes including (a) blame and hostility: "It's all their fault"; (b) incompetence and misinformation: "clueless boomer"; (c) ageist political slander; and (d) combatting ageism: advocacy and accessibility. Our findings exposed issues of victim-blaming, hate speech, pejorative content, and ageist political slander that is deepening the divide of intergenerational conflict. Although a subset of tweets countered negative outcomes and demonstrated intergenerational solidarity, our findings suggest that ageism may have contributed to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among older adults. Consequently, urgent action is needed to counter vaccine misinformation, prohibit aggressive messaging, and promote intergenerational unity during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.

Citation

Juanita-Dawne R Bacsu, Melissa K Andrew, Mehrnoosh Azizi, Corinne Berger, Allison Cammer, Alison L Chasteen, Sarah Anne Fraser, Karl S Grewal, Shoshana Green, Rory Gowda-Sookochoff, Jasmine Cassy Mah, Katherine S McGilton, Laura Middleton, Kate Nanson, Raymond J Spiteri, Yikai Tang, Megan E O'Connell. Using Twitter to Understand COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Ageism During the Pandemic. The Gerontologist. 2024 Feb 01;64(2)

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PMID: 37267449

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