Did YouTube Creators Boost Covid Vaccination Rates?

My pitch to Scientific American had three points: 

• YouTube has massive reach.

• Some personalities are using their platforms to encourage viewers to get vaccinated.

• It might actually work because of the strong parasocial relationships that some users form with YouTube personalities.  

It was the summer of 2021, and Covid-19 vaccination campaigns (and anti-campaigns) were in full force. By then about a billion people had received at least one dose, but billions more needed to roll up a sleeve to end the crisis phase of the pandemic. 

I talked to social scientists and content creators (including Hank Green!) about whether that microgenre of video was making a difference at a crucial moment. 

Read the piece in WIRED: These Videos Could Boost COVID Vaccination Rates

TL;DR Researchers can’t really prove that media changes people’s minds or behavior — but these videos had a better shot at success than traditional public health messaging because they played strongly to social and emotional motivations, not just facts and reasoning.

In the four years since that article was published, parasocial relationships have only become more prevalent, with platforms like Twitch, TikTok, and Onlyfans continuing to build on their pandemic-era momentum. Services like ChatGPT and Character.ai are taking this a step further, using AI to tailor synthetic relationships with each individual user. 

What hasn’t changed as much is the base of evidence that sheds light on whether the pro-vaccination videos ended up having a measurable impact — and there probably won’t be anytime soon. In early 2025, the federal government pulled all funding for research into why people do or don’t decide to get vaccinated.

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