Replication Data for: Social Media Resonance of Covid-19 Containment and Vaccination in Switzerland: An Analysis of the Adoption of Public Health Information and Misinformation

Communication of information is essential to the public’s compliance with measures that aim to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. The dissemination of information on Covid-19 in Switzerland-related social media content is in this study investigated by deploying qualitative content analysis. The findings point at a large share of misinformation in Covid-19-related issues, an even larger share of content not-conducive to containment of the pandemic and vaccination, a strongly negative reputation of the (health) authorities, a controversial assessment of vaccination, and a limited adoption of key messages of the public health authorities. Significantly enhancing current insights, the misinformation is found to consist primarily of unsubstantiated health consequences of the Covid-19 vaccination (efficacy, a large variety of side effects), and, less often, of the disease and the pandemic (trivialization, denial). Furthermore, in a phase of political campaigning on a Covid-law referendum in Switzerland, pandemic containment is often portrayed as an undue and/or unconstitutional imposition on individual and collective freedom, and as an ingredient or a tool of political repression. In addition, the pandemic and/or its containment are embedded in various conspiracies and entrenched in religious and/or esoteric narratives.