Health Commun.  2022 Jun;17(1):1-9. 10.15715/kjhcom.2022.17.1.1.

Impact of mass media reports on emergency department use by people who vaccinated against COVID-19

• Chung HS
• Bae SJ
• Choi YH
• Lee SH
• Namgung M
• Lee DH
• Kim CW

• KMID: 2536280
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.15715/kjhcom.2022.17.1.1

Abstract

Purpose
: The COVID-19 vaccine was developed and approved quickly, and verification was carried out simultaneously with vaccination. Many patients have visited the emergency department (ED) complaining of severe adverse reactions. However, only a few cases are severe adverse reactions. We were concerned that this might be the effect of excessive media coverage. Therefore, we would like to analyze the correlation between the number of articles and the number of patients who visited ED.
Methods
: This study was conducted on patients who visited the ED from March 2021 to October 2021. The subjects were selected through keywords “vaccine”, “side effect”, “adverse reactions”, “Pfizer”, “AstraZeneca”, “Moderna”, “Janssen” and total 1,705 patients were enrolled. The number of articles was analyzed through Big Kinds. In addition, the correlation between the number of patients visited ED, and the number of vaccinated people was investigated.
Results
: There was no statistically significant correlation between the number of articles and the number of patients who visited ED. However, the number of vaccinated people and the number of patients who visited ED showed a significant relationship.
Conclusion
: In this study, the number of articles did not affect the number of patients visiting the ED. However, media reports of adverse reactions were continued, and it instilled fear in people. Therefore, it is important to provide accurate information from the media to prevent overcrowding of ED.

Keyword

Adverse effects; COVID-19; Mass media; Vaccine