title: Social media and the evolution of vaccine preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic: Discrete choice experiment

authors: Maris, R

subjects: COVID-19

abstract: Vaccine information and misinformation are spread through social media in ways that may vary by platform. Understanding the role social media plays in shaping vaccine preferences is crucial for policymakers and researchers.


          
          
            Objective


            This study aims to test whether social media use is associated with changes in vaccine preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, and whether trust in sources of information has a moderating role.


          
          
            Methods


            Our data consist of a balanced panel of 257 web-based respondents in New Zealand in August 2020, October-November 2020, and March-April 2021. We use a novel approach with stated choice panel data to study transitions between different vaccine preference groups. We analyze the associations between these transitions and social media use. We classify respondents as resistant (never chose a vaccine), hesitant (chose a vaccine between 1 and 5 times), and provaccine (chose a vaccine 6 out of 6 times) in each wave of data.


          
          
            Results


            We found a positive or neutral association between social media use and vaccine uptake. Facebook, Twitter (pre-2022), and TikTok users who are provaccine are less likely to become hesitant or resistant. Facebook and Instagram users who are hesitant are more likely to become pro. Some social media platforms may have a more positive association with vaccine uptake preferences for those who do not trust the government.


          
          
            Conclusions


            The paper contributes to the wider literature, which shows social media can be associated with reinforcing both pro and antivaccination sentiment, and these results depend on where individuals get their information from and their trust in such sources.

text: Social media and the evolution of vaccine preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic: Discrete choice experiment Vaccine information and misinformation are spread through social media in ways that may vary by platform. Understanding the role social media plays in shaping vaccine preferences is crucial for policymakers and researchers.


          
          
            Objective


            This study aims to test whether social media use is associated with changes in vaccine preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, and whether trust in sources of information has a moderating role.


          
          
            Methods


            Our data consist of a balanced panel of 257 web-based respondents in New Zealand in August 2020, October-November 2020, and March-April 2021. We use a novel approach with stated choice panel data to study transitions between different vaccine preference groups. We analyze the associations between these transitions and social media use. We classify respondents as resistant (never chose a vaccine), hesitant (chose a vaccine between 1 and 5 times), and provaccine (chose a vaccine 6 out of 6 times) in each wave of data.


          
          
            Results


            We found a positive or neutral association between social media use and vaccine uptake. Facebook, Twitter (pre-2022), and TikTok users who are provaccine are less likely to become hesitant or resistant. Facebook and Instagram users who are hesitant are more likely to become pro. Some social media platforms may have a more positive association with vaccine uptake preferences for those who do not trust the government.


          
          
            Conclusions


            The paper contributes to the wider literature, which shows social media can be associated with reinforcing both pro and antivaccination sentiment, and these results depend on where individuals get their information from and their trust in such sources.

year: 2025

title: Petrologic evidence for earliest Miocene tectonic mobility on eastern Taranaki Basin margin

authors: Hood, Steven D.

subjects: Taranaki Basin

abstract: At Gibsons Beach on the west coast of central North Island, the earliest Miocene (Waitakian) Otorohanga Limestone, the top-most formation in the Te Kuiti Group, is unconformably overlain on an undulating, locally channelised erosion surface by the Early Miocene (Otaian) Papakura Limestone at the base of the Waitemata Group. The basal facies of the Papakura Limestone is a conglomerate composed exclusively of tightly packed pebble- to cobble-sized clasts of skeletal limestone sourced from the underlying Otorohanga Limestone. This petrographic and geochemical study demonstrates that the Otorohanga Limestone was partially lithified during marine and shallow-burial cementation at subsurface depths down to a few tens of metres prior to uplift, erosion and cannibalisation of the limestone clasts into the Papakura Limestone. Strontium isotope dating of fossils from both the Otorohanga and Papakura Limestones at Gibsons Beach yield comparable ages of about 22 Ma, close to the Waitakian/Otaian boundary, indicating very rapid tectonic inversion and erosion of the section occurred in the earliest Miocene. We envisage the clasts of Otorohanga Limestone were sourced from a proximal shoreline position and redeposited westwards by episodic debris flows onto a shallow-shelf accumulating  mixed siliciclastic-skeletal carbonate deposits of the Papakura Limestone. Subsequent burial of both limestones by rapidly accumulating Waitemata Group sandstone and flysch instigated precipitation of widespread burial cements from pressure dissolution of carbonate material at subsurface depths from about 100 m to 1.0 km. The vertical tectonic movements registered at Gibsons Beach can be related to the oblique compression associated with the development of the Australian-Pacific plate boundary through New Zealand at about this time and coincide with overthrusting of basement into Taranaki Basin between mid-Waitakian (earliest Miocene) and Altonian (late Early Miocene) times.

text: Petrologic evidence for earliest Miocene tectonic mobility on eastern Taranaki Basin margin At Gibsons Beach on the west coast of central North Island, the earliest Miocene (Waitakian) Otorohanga Limestone, the top-most formation in the Te Kuiti Group, is unconformably overlain on an undulating, locally channelised erosion surface by the Early Miocene (Otaian) Papakura Limestone at the base of the Waitemata Group. The basal facies of the Papakura Limestone is a conglomerate composed exclusively of tightly packed pebble- to cobble-sized clasts of skeletal limestone sourced from the underlying Otorohanga Limestone. This petrographic and geochemical study demonstrates that the Otorohanga Limestone was partially lithified during marine and shallow-burial cementation at subsurface depths down to a few tens of metres prior to uplift, erosion and cannibalisation of the limestone clasts into the Papakura Limestone. Strontium isotope dating of fossils from both the Otorohanga and Papakura Limestones at Gibsons Beach yield comparable ages of about 22 Ma, close to the Waitakian/Otaian boundary, indicating very rapid tectonic inversion and erosion of the section occurred in the earliest Miocene. We envisage the clasts of Otorohanga Limestone were sourced from a proximal shoreline position and redeposited westwards by episodic debris flows onto a shallow-shelf accumulating  mixed siliciclastic-skeletal carbonate deposits of the Papakura Limestone. Subsequent burial of both limestones by rapidly accumulating Waitemata Group sandstone and flysch instigated precipitation of widespread burial cements from pressure dissolution of carbonate material at subsurface depths from about 100 m to 1.0 km. The vertical tectonic movements registered at Gibsons Beach can be related to the oblique compression associated with the development of the Australian-Pacific plate boundary through New Zealand at about this time and coincide with overthrusting of basement into Taranaki Basin between mid-Waitakian (earliest Miocene) and Altonian (late Early Miocene) times.

year: 2006

title: Indigenous perspectives and gene editing in Aotearoa New Zealand

authors: Hudson, Maui

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Gene editing is arguably the most significant recent addition to the modern biotechnology toolbox, bringing both profoundly challenging and enabling opportunities. From a technical point of view the specificity and relative simplicity of these new tools has broadened the potential applications. However, from an ethical point of view it has re-ignited the debates generated by earlier forms of genetic modification. In New Zealand gene editing is currently considered genetic modification and is subject to approval processes under the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). This process requires decision makers to take into account Māori perspectives. This article outlines previously articulated Māori perspectives on genetic modification and considers the continuing influence of those cultural and ethical arguments within the new context of gene editing. It also explores the range of ways cultural values might be used to analyse the risks and benefits of gene editing in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. Methods used to obtain these perspectives consisted of (a) review of relevant literature regarding lessons learned from the responses of Maori to genetic modification, (b) interviews of selected ‘key Maori informants’ and (c) surveys of self-selected individuals from groups with interests in either genetics or environmental management. The outcomes of this pilot study identified that while Māori informants were not categorically opposed to new and emerging gene editing technologies a priori, they suggest a dynamic approach to regulation is required where specific uses or types of uses are approved on a case by case basis. This study demonstrates how the cultural cues that Māori referenced in the genetic modification debate continue to be relevant in the context of gene editing but that further work is required to characterize the strength of various positions across the broader community.

text: Indigenous perspectives and gene editing in Aotearoa New Zealand Gene editing is arguably the most significant recent addition to the modern biotechnology toolbox, bringing both profoundly challenging and enabling opportunities. From a technical point of view the specificity and relative simplicity of these new tools has broadened the potential applications. However, from an ethical point of view it has re-ignited the debates generated by earlier forms of genetic modification. In New Zealand gene editing is currently considered genetic modification and is subject to approval processes under the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). This process requires decision makers to take into account Māori perspectives. This article outlines previously articulated Māori perspectives on genetic modification and considers the continuing influence of those cultural and ethical arguments within the new context of gene editing. It also explores the range of ways cultural values might be used to analyse the risks and benefits of gene editing in the Aotearoa New Zealand context. Methods used to obtain these perspectives consisted of (a) review of relevant literature regarding lessons learned from the responses of Maori to genetic modification, (b) interviews of selected ‘key Maori informants’ and (c) surveys of self-selected individuals from groups with interests in either genetics or environmental management. The outcomes of this pilot study identified that while Māori informants were not categorically opposed to new and emerging gene editing technologies a priori, they suggest a dynamic approach to regulation is required where specific uses or types of uses are approved on a case by case basis. This study demonstrates how the cultural cues that Māori referenced in the genetic modification debate continue to be relevant in the context of gene editing but that further work is required to characterize the strength of various positions across the broader community.

year: 2019