Online Search Behavior Related to the COVID-19 Vaccine: An Infodemiology Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Vaccination against COVID-19 is an important public health strategy to address the ongoing pandemic. Examination of online search behavior related to the COVID-19 vaccine can provide insights into the public's awareness, concerns, and interest regarding COVID-19 vaccination. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study is to describe online search behavior related to the COVID-19 during the beginning of public vaccination efforts in the US. METHODS We examined Google Trends data from 1-1-2021 through 3-16-2021 to determine the relative search volume (RSV) for vaccine related searches. We also examined search query log data for COVID-19 vaccine-related searches and identified five categories of searches: 1) General or other information, 2) Vaccine availability, 3) Vaccine maker, 4) Vaccine side-effects and safety, and 5) Vaccine myths and conspiracy beliefs. We report on the proportion and trends for these different categories of vaccine-related searches. RESULTS In the first quarter of 2021, the proportion of all online queries that were related to the COVID-19 vaccine increased from approximately 10% to nearly 50% of all COVID-19 related queries (P<.001). The proportion of COVID-19 vaccine queries that addressed vaccine availability increased from 36% to 44% (P =.05) including a particularly notable increase in the proportion of COVID-19 vaccine queries that included the name of a specific pharmacy (5% to 27%, P=.007). Queries related to vaccine side-effects or safety represented fewer than 5% of all searches and queries related to specific vaccine myths and conspiracy belief represented less than 1% of all COVID-19 vaccine-related searches throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates an increase in online search behavior related to the COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021 along with an increase in the proportion of these searches that were related to vaccine availability. These findings are consistent with an increase in public interest and intention to vaccinate during the initial phase of public COVID-19 vaccination efforts.