Understanding the content of COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy videos on YouTube: An analysis of videos published at the start of the vaccine rollout

Abstract

Over 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic, information on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination, particularly for people in high-risk populations, has become a popular topic of discussion. The purpose of this study was to analyze the content and characteristics of YouTube videos related to COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy. The 50 most viewed English language videos on pregnancy and COVID-19 vaccination were included in this study. The 50 YouTube videos were viewed 4,589,613 times, with 6% uploaded by consumers, 40% by medical professionals, and 44% by television or internet-based news. Videos from consumer sources more often mentioned a human trial of the COVID-19 vaccine (75% of consumer videos vs. 65% of medical professional videos and 31.8% of television or internet-based news videos, P =.036) and more often mentioned anti-vaccination sentiment, fear, or distrust of the vaccines (37.5% of consumer videos vs 5.0% of medical professional videos and 4.5% of television or internet-based news videos, P =.018). Videos uploaded by medical professionals more often mentioned emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccines (P =.016), passive immunity in general (P =.011), and that the COVID-19 vaccine is either unlikely to or will not cause harm in breastfeeding more often than did videos from consumer or television-based news sources (P =.034). New information regarding COVID-19 vaccination and pregnancy is continuing to emerge, and this study highlights that the information found in the most viewed YouTube videos on this topic can quickly become outdated.