Videos, Views, and Vaccines: Evaluating the Quality of COVID-19 Communications on YouTube
Harleen Marwah, Kyle Carlson, Natalie A. Rosseau, Katherine C. Chretien, Terry Kind, Hope T. Jackson
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is introduced, it is critical to recognize that public opinion on vaccines is largely influenced by health communications, with YouTube being a major source of information and misinformation. This analysis graded the accuracy, quality, and reliability of the most viewed YouTube videos depicting COVID-19 and vaccinations over a 6-mo period. METHODS: We collected hyperlinks for the 150 most viewed YouTube videos discussing COVID-19 from January through June 2020. Closed captioning data were searched for the term "vaccine," yielding 32 videos. This sample was evaluated for quality, accuracy, and reliability using a rubric that incorporated existing instruments: Global Quality Scale (GQS), JAMA Benchmark Criteria, and DISCERN. RESULTS: These 32 videos had 139,764,188 views at the time of data collection. The majority of videos received low scores, with network news sources receiving the lowest scores overall. CONCLUSIONS: The overall quality of COVID-19 YouTube videos related to vaccines may be low and raises a precautionary alert for the public consuming these videos and for health-care providers working to provide the best information to their patients. Existing scoring tools may not capture the complexities of social media. New tools could allow for a better understanding of the modern landscape of health communications.