Vaccination-Theme-Misinformation: A Pollution of Information During Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

The number of vaccination misinformation increased sharply around the launching of COVID-19 vaccination. It ranged from the misin Santi Indra Astuti formation on halal/haram issue to depopulation agenda. The latter was implied on misinformation about sickness, even death, that brought by the vaccine. The spread of vaccine misinformation has played a significant role in reducing the level of public confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine, which in turn increasing vaccine hesitancy and slowing down vaccine uptakes which reflected a shrunken vaccine acceptance. To comprehend more about the nature of the problem, this study intends to map and to analyze the misinformation on COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic in Indonesia. The findings are expected to produce some recommendations for effective mitigation strategy. This research employs a quantitative content analysis and is applying a double loop analysis to develop and secure the categories of vaccination misinformation themes. Among the findings are:1) a sharp increase of vaccine misinformation during weeks approaching the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2021; 2) the predominance of vaccine side effect issues and conspiracy theme. Most of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation are targeted public in general. It is fabricated to erode public trust toward government and health authorities.