“Seemingly counter-intuitive, the percentage of fact-related users is significantly negatively associated with the vaccination rate. A combination of a larger user-level influence and the negative impact of online social endorsement on vaccination intent may account for this paradox,” says Jiebo Luo, a professor with the Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester.

However, the percentage of fake-news-related users and the vaccination rate revealed no significant correlation. The study thereby provides a better understanding of the relationship between vaccine-related news, online behaviors, and vaccination rates.

Source: Medindia