Hispanic Community

There is a vocal U.S. Hispanic community with a firm stance against vaccination. Many are dissatisfied with the actions taken for the emergency COVID-19 vaccine approvals. This community does not have a leader. It is simply many different kinds of people expressing their opinion on vaccination.

There is also a more divided community that tweets in Spanish. The majority are against vaccination and show a great deal of fear, with those in favor of vaccination being a minority within this already small community.

Anti-vaccination Hispanic Community

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People
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Tweets

This data refers to the U.S. Hispanic community with a firm stance against vaccination. Many are dissatisfied with the actions taken for the emergency COVID-19 vaccine approvals. This community does not have a leader. It is simply many different kinds of people expressing their opinion on vaccination.

Power Profiles

Within this community we find both profiles such as journalist and political analyst Johnattan Bilancieri, who takes an anti-vaccine stance, as well as many media retweets from the New York Times, CNN en español, and UniNoticias.

Many key personalities are from the Mexican political sphere, as is the case with Senator Lily Tellez. She spoke out against the Russian vaccine, claiming there was not enough evidence it was safe and reliable before the Mexican government authorized its emergency approval.

Univision Noticias
@UniNoticias
Johnattan Bilancieri
@Bilancieri
CNN en Español
@CNNEE
Lilly Tellez
@LillyTellez
Andrés Manuel
@lopezobrador_

Hashtags

One of the most common hashtags in the anti-vaccination Spanish-speaking community is #YoNoMeVacuno (I won’t get vaccinated), but it is more related to criticisms of the emergency vaccine approvals. These are regularly related to other hashtags, such as # covd19 and #ultimahora, a media outlet that disseminates this type of news to the community.

Keywords

Keywords within the Spanish-speaking community show its uncertainties and fears about vaccination and its possible side effects. They emphasize the importance of proper approval protocols, feeling as though the FDA approved the COVID-19 vaccines before they had clear trial results.

Keyword(s) Number of Uses Percentages
Vaccine (vacuna) 6,818 11.02%
Fear (miedo) 3,452 5.58%
Vaccines (vacunas) 2,951 4.77%
COVID 2,217 3.59%
Effects (efectos) 2,131 3.45%
Side effects (secundarios) 2,036 3.29%
Side effects (efectos secundarios) 2,035 3.29%
Pfizer 1,702 2.75%
Dose (dosis) 1,178 1.91%
Russian (rusa) 992 1.60%
COVID vaccine (vacuna COVID) 945 1.53%
Totals 26,457 42.78%

Myths and Fears

Myths and fears about vaccines are common in this community, with 42% using related words in their conversations.

The study found that this community questions the results of the vaccine trials given their emergency approval, while also being dissatisfied by the government’s slow emergency approval. Other key topics include vaccines’ long-term side effects.

Geographic Distribution

The states with the highest concentration of community members from this group are those with a significant Hispanic presence, such as California, Florida, New York, and Texas.

Region People Tweets Reach Reach percentages
California 702 1,961 3,101,790 11.11%
Florida 457 1,471 11,262,267 40.33%
New York 329 920 1,590,779 5.70%
Texas 372 833 999,446 3.58%
Washington D.C. 70 427 6,709,241 24.02%
Arizona 53 127 189,802 0.68%
New Mexico 32 81 72,717 0.26%
Totals 2015 5,820 23,926,042 85.67%

Profession and Gender Distribution

Journalists and reporters are the most common professions found interacting in this community, with most of them being men (69%).

Professions Gender People Percentages Reach
Journalist Female 25 5.26% 92,173
Journalist Male 20 4.21% 307,441
Journalist (Reporter) Female 43 9.05% 615,532
Journalist (Reporter) Male 4 0.84% 17,699
Teacher Female 17 3.58% 12,165
Entrepreneur Male 43 9.05% 17,515
Teacher (Professor) Male 20 4.21% 424,352
Teacher (Professor) Female 1 0.21% 4
Journalist (Correspondent) Male 18 3.79% 93,683
Journalist (Correspondent) Female 3 0.63% 21,748
Totals 200 42.11% 1,602,312

Conversation Sentiment

This conversation’s tone is negative to neutral due to widespread disapproval regarding the emergency vaccine approvals and the different measures the government has taken to develop a vaccination plan.

Pro-vaccination Hispanic Community

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People
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Tweets

The community that tweets in Spanish about vaccination is divided. The majority are against vaccination and show a great deal of fear, with those in favor of vaccination being a minority within this already small community.

This group, as with all pro-vaccination communities found in this study, promotes demystification and correction regarding the falsehoods and fears within the population.

It is key to note that not a single public voice is part of this community. It is made entirely of normal citizens who share their experiences with and knowledge of the subject in Spanish.

Power Profile

In the U.S. Hispanic community, there is no specific leader or top voice beyond broadcasts from media such as RT and the New York Times. Despite this, the study identified many citizens who strive to share clear and trustworthy messages. This includes people such as:

  • Scientist Juana Diaz
  • Writer Andrés Burgos
  • Neurosurgeon Sonia Villapol
  • Cancer and COVID researcher Roselyn Lemus-Martin
Juana Diaz
@juanadiazchile
Juan Schmukler
@JSchmukler
Andrés Burgos
@pelucavieja
Sonia Villapol
@svillapol
Roselyn Lemus-Martin
@roslemusmartin

Hashtags

The pro-vaccination Hispanic community uses hashtags that reflect their beliefes and support others to make informed decisions. The most-used ones are #SciCheck, a hashtag focusing exclusively on rectifying false and misleading scientific claims that supporters make to influence public policy; #ultimahora, which points to relevant news; #yosimevacuno (yes I will vaccinate), associated with the movement to take the vaccine; and #segurasyefectivas (safe and effective), used to encourage trust in the vaccines.

Keywords

Keywords within this community’s conversations show the strong impact that fears of possible vaccine side effects has had on the conversation, but they use information and data to disprove these myths.

Keyword(s) Number of Uses Percentages
Fear (miedo) 194 4.25%
Effects (efectos) 189 4.14%
Side effects (efectos secundarios) 181 3.96%
Side effects (secundarios) 181 3.96%
Myths (mitos) 72 1.58%
Information (informacion) 58 1.27%
Fear of vaccines (miedo vacuna) 43 0.94%
Sickness (enfermedad) 36 0.79%
Truth dose (dosis verdad) 18 0.39%
Fear dose (miedo dosis) 18 0.39%
Truth and fear dose (miedo dosis verdad) 18 0.39%
Rejection (rechazo) 18 0.39%
Uncertainties (dudas) 17 0.37%
Totals 1,043 22.82%

Myths and Fears

This community is not exempt from discussing myths and fears about vaccines, with 22% of conversations containing relevant keywords.

LLYC’s study found that this community tries to raise awareness of the vaccine to reduce fears and prevent people from embracing false information. Some of the main tweets published by this community address issues and myths such as the presence of mind-control chips in vaccines, the idea that people should take Ivermectin based solely on recommendations from friends or online posts, and listening to hearsay instead of being informed.

Geographic Distribution

Certain states account for most of this community’s communications, with New York and Washington D.C. accounting for almost 50%. There is less participation but a similar scope in California, Texas, and Florida.

Region People Tweets Reach Reach percentages
New York  39 124 560,594 21.39%
California 55 95 180,992 6.91%
Washington D.C. 21 94 695,348 26.53%
Texas 32 72 262,049 10.00%
Florida 32 53 214,265 8.18%
Arizona 1 3 4,222 0.16%
New Mexico 2 2 1,950 0.07%
Totals 182 443 1,919,420 73.23%

Conversation sentiment

This communtiy’s conversational tone is neutral to negative, as the main conversations are about defending vaccination programs from a scientific point of view and the sharing objective experiences of those who have already been vaccinated. They primarily criticize the misinformed positions and fake news spread by those sharing myths or fearmongering.

Profession and Gender Distribution

Journalists, Ph.D. students, and researchers stand out within this community. There are slightly more men than women, with the former accounting for 57% of publications.

Profession Gender Count Percentages Reach
Scientist (Researcher) Female 23 11.92% 439,001
Scientist (Immunologist) Female 10 5.18% 8,264
Physician Male 16 8.29% 26,570
Student (Ph.D. Candidate) Female 4 2.07% 473
Student (Ph.D. Candidate) Male 1 0.52% 2,883
Journalist (Editor) Male 6 3.11% 3,683
Journalist (Editor) Female 1 0.52% 6,880
Teacher (Professor) Female 11 5.70% 144,870
Artist (Actor) Male 6 3.11% 0
Scientist Female 4 2.07% 4,096
Scientist Male 4 2.07% 2,251
Student Female 5 2.59% 5,113
Student Male 3 1.55% 1,032