Matching tweets to ZIP codes can spotlight hot spots of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

Public health officials are focusing on the 30% of the eligible population that remains unvaccinated against COVID-19 as of the end of October 2021, and that requires figuring out where those people are and why they are unvaccinated. People remain unvaccinated for many reasons, including belief in unfounded conspiracy theories about the disease, the vaccines or both; distrust of the medical establishment; concerns about risks and side effects; fear of needles; and difficulty accessing vaccines. To target their messaging and outreach geographically and according to the type of hesitancy, public health officials need good data to guide their efforts. Traditional survey methods are helpful but tend to be expensive. Another approach is to assess vaccine hesitancy through the lens of social media.