cover image: ISSUE: 2021 No. 82    - Singapore | 17 June 2021

20.500.12592/mh7f8j

ISSUE: 2021 No. 82 - Singapore | 17 June 2021

17 Jun 2021

This type of commentary is akin to the COVID-19 conspiracy theories that had been spreading across the globe since the start of the pandemic. [...] In the early phases of the pandemic, such narratives had focused on the origins and nature of the virus itself, but since the global roll-out of vaccines they now mainly target the mass vaccination programmes, seeking public rejection of vaccines.11 In its most extreme form, such propaganda constructs COVID-19 vaccination as an evil plot orchestrated by global elites to enslave humanity. [...] In Indonesia too, COVID-19 misinformation has been rife since the outbreak of the pandemic, triggering panic-buying and even denial of the existence of the disease. [...] #VAKSIN TRENDS ON TIKTOK The top videos on TikTok with the hashtag #vaksin reveal some of the anxieties which Indonesians have about the vaccine (see Figure 3). [...] In the weeks after her speech, the original clip of her parliamentary rant were among the top ten TikTok videos with the hashtag #tolakvaksin (reject the vaccine); the top video on that list garnered 9000 likes, 388 comments and 2,085 shares.
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12
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Singapore