The “Anti-Vax” Movement: A Quantitative Report on Vaccine Beliefs and Knowledge across Social Media

This cross sectional research explored the relationship between the spread of information regarding vaccines and social media use. A sample of 2515 people over the age of 18 around the world completed the survey via a link found on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. A series of questions on vaccine knowledge and beliefs were compounded to create an individual's "knowledge score" and a "belief score". Knowledge scores were ranked from low knowledge to high knowledge with increasing scores. Belief scores were ranked from belief in myths to disbelief in myths with higher scores. This score was then analysed, using a Welch test and post hoc testing when applicable, across demographics and questions relating to social media use. <br> <br>