Can Post-Vaccination Sentiment Affect the Acceptance of Booster Jab? with Blessing Ogbuokiri

In this seminar, Blessing Ogbuokiri will share his recently published research, supported by the Critical Perspectives in Global Health Seed Grant program, it analyzes the attitude and sentiments of Twitter users in nine African countries when discussing the second and booster vaccine. The data collected was used to supplement existing vaccination data in order to better understand citizens’ attitudes toward accepting the booster vaccination. His research found that the number of positive tweets discussing booster shots correlated with an increase in positive intensities. User’s expressions could likely affect the acceptance of booster shots either positively and negatively. Therefore, health-policy makers should gather insight from social media data for the management and planning of vaccination programs during a disease outbreak.

Ogbuokiri, Blessing, Ahmadi, A., Mellado, B., Wu, Jianhong, Orbinski, James, Asgary, Ali, & Kong, Jude (2023). Can post-vaccination sentiment affect the acceptance of booster jab? Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, 200–211. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35501-1_20

Speaker profile

Dr. Blessing Ogbuokiri holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa. With extensive experience in academia, industry, and community-based organizations, he has demonstrated his diverse talents and is committed to advancing research and innovation. Throughout his educational journey, he has consistently maintained an exceptional academic record.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Dr. Ogbuokiri was awarded the PSYBERGATE Computer Science Alumni Prize for the Best Student Tutor in 2016 at Wits. He also received the prestigious Google AI award in 2018 due to his outstanding contribution to the field. Presently, he serves as a postdoctoral fellow and instructor at York University where he is supervised by Professor Jude Kong. His expertise encompasses a range of areas, including qualitative research, data visualization, machine learning, deep learning, data science, database management, AI ethics and policy, TensorFlow, project management, and module content development. 

Dr. Ogbuokiri actively collaborates with researchers from various interdisciplinary groups, such as the Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium (ACADIC) at York University, Black in AI (BAI), Canadian Black Scientist Network (CBSN), Black Creek Community Health Center (BCHC), and High Performance & Intelligent Computing Group (HiPIC Lab). Together, they employ artificial intelligence to assist government and local communities in containing and managing the spread of community-based infectious disease outbreaks.

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Please find the recap and recording here.