SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PROLIFERATION OF FALSE REPORTS ON COVID-19 VACCINES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the social media and the proliferation of false reports 
on COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Health 
Belief Model. It adopted a survey research design, and a questionnaire was used as the primary instrument for data collection. The study had a sample
size of 300 and the multi-stage, stratified sampling technique was used. The sampled respondents were divided into the 6 geo-political zones of Nigeria and selected representative states using a simple random sampling technique. Findings revealed that false reports of government relief funds, the false reports of infected facial masks in circulation, and the false reports of confirmed cases in some states of the federation were recorded as some constraints in the course of social media use for COVID-19 pandemic reports in Nigeria. The study recommended among other things that, the Federal Ministry of Health, NCDC, health-related NGOs, and a coalition of health bodies and authorities should proactively design and popularize their pages on various social media platforms in a bid to curb vague health reports thereby, creating more veracity and credibility of health reports on social media.