iNCOVACC COVID-19 vaccine: A Twitter based Social Media Analysis Using Natural Language Processing, Sentiment Analysis, and Topic Modelling

Praveen SV; Pooja Upasana Bhanj; Paras Jha; Deepak Chandran; Prachi Singh; Sandip Chakraborty; Abhijit Dey; Kuldeep Dhama

doi:10.18006/2023.11(1).150.157

Authors

Praveen SV Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Bangalore, Department of Analytics, Hosur Rd, Phase 2, Electronic City, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560100, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1450-8839
Pooja Upasana Bhanj Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Bangalore, Department of Analytics, Hosur Rd, Phase 2, Electronic City, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560100, India https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9153-5106
Paras Jha Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Bangalore, Department of Analytics, Hosur Rd, Phase 2, Electronic City, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560100, India https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7247-7193
Deepak Chandran Amrita School of Agricultural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu – 642109, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9873-6969
Prachi Singh Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Sciences, Uttar Pradesh Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Pashu Chikitsa Vigyan Vishwavidyalaya Evam Go Anusandhan Sansthan (DUVASU), Mathura, Uttar Pradesh- 281001, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9873-4747
Sandip Chakraborty Department of Veterinary Microbiology, College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, R.K. Nagar, West Tripura, Tripura, Pin-799008, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2792-3281
Abhijit Dey Department of Life Sciences, Presidency University, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata-700073, West Bengal, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5750-0802
Kuldeep Dhama Division of Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India - 243122 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7469-4752

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18006/2023.11(1).150.157

Keywords:

iNCOVACC vaccine, COVID-19, Social media tweets, India

Abstract

Most, if not all, the vaccine candidates designed to counteract COVID-19 due to SARS-CoV-2 infection require parenteral administration. Mucosal immunity established by vaccination could significantly contribute to containing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which is spread by infected respiratory secretions. The world has been impacted on many fronts by the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 and has yet to recover entirely from the impact of the crisis. In late 2022 and early 2023, China experienced a new surge of COVID-19 outbreaks, mainly in the country's northeastern region. With the threat of new variants like XBB 1.5 and BF.7, India might experience a similar COVID-19 surge as China and needs to be prepared to avoid destruction again. An intranasal vaccine can elicit multiple immunological responses, including IgG neutralization, mucosal IgA production, and T-cell responses. In order to prevent further infection and the spread of COVID-19, local immune responses in the nasal mucosa are required. iNCOVACC is a recombinant vaccine vectored by an adenovirus that contains a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that has been pre-fusion stabilized. This vaccine candidate has shown promise in both early and late-stage clinical trials. iNCOVACC has been designed for intranasal administration via nasal drops. The nasal delivery system was created to reduce expenses for those living in poor and moderate-income countries. The newly introduced intranasal COVID vaccine will be beneficial in mass immunizing the public as it does not need any syringe and can be proven to be an effective method to boost immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This study uses natural language processing (NLP) techniques to analyze the Indian citizen's perceptions of the newly developed iNCOVACC vaccine in social media. For this study, we have used social media posts (tweets) as data. We have analyzed 125,300 tweets to study the general perception of Indian citizens regarding the iNCOVACC vaccine. Our results have indicated 43.19% of social media posts discussing the COVID-19 nasal vaccine in a neutral tone, nearly 34.29% of social media posts are positive, and 22.5% of social media posts discussions are negative. The general positive feeling that the iNCOVACC vaccine will work and the risks in the new vaccine are the two significant aspects Indian citizens voice out in social media posts about the iNCOVACC vaccine.

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