‘Are you vaccinated? Yeah, I’m immunized': a risk orders theory analysis of celebrity COVID-19 misinformation

ABSTRACT

Background

On 11 March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a global health pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccinating populations is paramount in changing the course of a pandemic. The rapid spread of (mis) and disinformation online from celebrities, politicians, and media influencers creates a corrosion of trust in public health interventions.

Methods

Given the importance of the spread of information during a public health crisis, the current study uses risk orders theory with a constructivist grounded theory approach to analyze an episode of a popular podcast available on YouTube, titled, ‘Aaron Rodgers Tells Pat McAfee His Side of Vaccine Situation.’

Results

Findings illuminated three themes concerning COVID-19 medical interventions from celebrity discourse: (1) misinterpreting medical terminology; (2) conflating bodily autonomy and altruism; and (3) political ideology as an impetus for misinformation.

Conclusions

The discussion offers implications for healthcare practitioners in debunking mis- and disinformation. Foremost, lack of transparency concerning autonomy, liberty, freedom, and choice from public health experts who design messages during a public health crisis creates a space for non-medical influencers to promote pseudoscience, misinformation, and disinformation. This leads to public distrust of medical experts and confuses the public’s understanding of best practices based upon standard of medical evidence and care.

KEYWORDS:

• Misinformation
• disinformation
• communication
• COVID-19
• health communication
• vaccination hesitancy
• celebrity discourse
• risk orders theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is readily accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v = Y3JU_oAEinQ.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kimberly Field-Springer

Kimberly Field-Springer, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Communication Department at Berry College.

Katie Striley

Katie Striley, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in the Department of Communication.

John Byerly

John Byerly, MSN, RN, CCRN-K is a Critical Care Nurse at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, OH.

Nathaniel Simmons

Nathaniel Simmons, Ph.D. is a Senior Instructor of Communication within the School of Education at Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT.

Teryn Ferrell

Teryn Ferrell, B.A., B.S. is an MPH student studying Health Communication at Colorado School of Public Health at Colorado State University.

Sarah Quigley

Sarah Quigley is a Ph.D. student studying Chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill.