PPE postdoc Pei-Hsun Hsieh has been published in the Journal of Public Health Policy for their insightful research exploring the psychological reactance to vaccine mandates as expressed on Twitter. This study delves into the impact of vaccine mandates on public sentiment, analyzing over 6.6 million vaccine-related tweets from July 2021 to February 2022. By leveraging advanced natural language processing tools, including the BERT model, Dr. Hsieh’s work identifies heightened negativity, anger, and freedom-related language in tweets discussing vaccine mandates compared to those that do not.

The findings reveal critical patterns, such as the correlation between state-level discussions on mandates and increased hostility toward public health officials and vaccines. Dr. Hsieh's research underscores the importance of carefully considering the societal implications of vaccine mandates, especially their potential to generate public resistance and undermine long-term resilience in health crises.

This innovative study contributes significantly to the field of public health policy by bridging data science with behavioral analysis to provide actionable insights for policymakers. Read the open-access paper here.