Abstract:

Serious measures have been taken against the epidemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, which affects the whole world and causes an increasing number of deaths every day, and vaccine studies have been started in many different countries in a short time. With the approval and implementation of the developed vaccines, many opinions related to the content and quality of the vaccines associated with the image of the country where they were produced have circulated in the digital environment. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to determine how the scientific production realized with the development of the COVID-19 vaccine is related to the image of a country and how it can contribute to the brand image by analyzing user comments in the digital environment. In line with this purpose, a single-item case study was conducted and user comments on the video news published by the news channels, which included the approval of the World Health Organization for the Sinovac vaccine produced in China, were analyzed. As a result of the study, negative user comments (manipulation/country propaganda, distrust of vaccine content) related to the country of origin of the vaccine are more; however, it has been determined that positive comments (strong state image, advanced health technology, caring for human health) receive more interaction.

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