Information-seeking behavior on Coronavirus Disease-19 Vaccine on the internet: A global and Indian search trend analysis

Abstract

Background: A significant portion of the global population seeks health-related information on the Internet. The world is searching for an effective vaccine to control the coronavirus disease-19. Knowing the information-seeking behavior of the population helps in designing an awareness program. Aim: This study aimed to explore the information-seeking behavior of the global and Indian population by analyzing Internet search trends. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from April to November 2020. We used fully anonymous data available in the public domain (https://trends.google.com/trends). The phrase “COVID vaccine” was searched with “schedule,” “when,” “cost,” “where,” and “side effect” to compare the trends. The global and Indian data were categorized month-wise and statistically tested by the Chi-square test. Results: Global Internet users seek information on “when” the COVID vaccine would be available followed by “where” to get the vaccine. The “schedule,” “cost,” and “side effect” come later. Indian search trend is similar for “when” and “where.” However, the third query was the “cost” followed by “schedule” and “side effect.” Conclusion: The Internet search trend showed that people around the world want to know when they would get a vaccine and where to get it. The least search volume was about the side effects of the vaccine. Primary care physicians, government, and nongovernment stakeholders may use this finding for optimum dissemination of information both online and offline.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• covid-19
• information-seeking behavior
• internet
• vaccines