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. 2023 Jan 11;9:e40201. doi: 10.2196/40201

Table 1.

Basic characteristics of included articles.

Study characteristics Studies, n
Study type

Observational study



Survey-based study
38


Internet-based study
42


Interview
10


Mixed methods study
1

Experimental study



Randomized trial
9


Quasi trial
2
Risk of bias


Low risk
90

Some concern
8

High risk
4
Study phasea


No report
8

Phase 1
28

Phase 2
49

Phase 3
1
Region


Worldwideb
26

African
6

American
25

Eastern Mediterranean
11

European
19

South-East Asian
5

Western Pacific
4

More than 1 regionc
6
Prior defined attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccinesd (n=80)


Survey-based study



General population
31


Antivaccine/vaccine hesitant population
4


Both groups above
3

Internet-based study



General online data
22


Antivaccine/vaccine hesitant data
19


Both groups above
1
Platform for internet-based studies (n=42)


Social media



Twitter
20


YouTube
5


Facebook
4


TikTok
1


Parler
1


Multiple social media platformse
3
Google Trends
1
Google Images
1
Internet news
1
Online article database
1
Multiple platformsf
1

aStudy phase was defined as follows: phase 1, from November 2019 to December 8, 2020; phase 2, from December 8, 2020, to November 26, 2021; phase 3 from November 26, 2021, to the latest ending date of data collection in included studies.

bStudies covering worldwide, including internet-based study with no limit in data collection (n=24), and survey-based study in multiple countries (n=2).

cStudies covering more than 1 region: 3 studies on American, European, and Western Pacific regions; and another 3 on American and European regions.

dStudy populations differ by their prior defined attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines: studies reporting misinformation among the vaccine hesitancy or refusal group (“antivaccine/vaccine hesitant group” and “antivaccine/vaccine hesitant data” in the table), and studies which did not prior define the vaccine hesitancy or refusal group (“general population” and “general online data” in the table).

eMultiple social media platforms in 3 studies [28,72,73] were Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; Instagram and Facebook; and YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

fMultiple platforms included Google, Google Fact Check, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, fact-checking agency websites, and websites of television and newspaper.