An Analysis of Vaccine-Related Sentiments on Twitter (X) from Development to Deployment of COVID-19 Vaccines

Anti-vaccine sentiments have been well-known and reported throughout the history of viral outbreaks and vaccination programmes. The COVID-19 pandemic caused fear and uncertainty about vaccines, which has been well expressed on social media platforms such as Twitter (X). We analyse sentiments from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and study the public behaviour on X during the planning, development, and deployment of vaccines expressed in tweets worldwide using a sentiment analysis framework via deep learning models. We provide visualisation and analysis of anti-vaccine sentiments throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We review the nature of the sentiments expressed with the number of tweets and monthly COVID-19 infections. Our results show a link between the number of tweets, the number of cases, and the change in sentiment polarity scores during major waves of COVID-19. We also find that the first half of the pandemic had drastic changes in the sentiment polarity scores that later stabilised, implying that the vaccine rollout impacted the nature of discussions on social media.

Rohitash Chandra, Jayesh Sonawane, Jahnavi Lande

https://doi.org/10.3390/bdcc8120186

Science and Hinduism share the vision of a quest for truth

Hinduism seeks to provide insight into the nature of the universe and is not antithetical to science. Rohitash Chandra explains why he sees value in bringing together science and spirituality in the quest for knowledge. – “I envision a world where we are fearless in bringing science and religion (spirituality) together. Hinduism is built on the philosophical foundations of the search for the truth and shares this vision with modern science. However, the focus of Hinduism has largely been on investigating the nature of consciousness. Several universities in the West have a Centre for Consciousness. This is just the beginning of the singularity in the quest for knowledge, where science and spirituality merge. We need to embrace science but also embrace humanities and spirituality, and ensure that our current and future generations are not a target of scientism that forces one to view science as a dogmatic religion.”

R. Chandra

Nature Human Behaviour, World View (2024)