About 40% of Americans say they get coronavirus vax info from social media, but not many believe it's the best source

Pew Research Center chart; click on it to enlarge.

Social media is a notorious source of misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines. That adds significance to a new Pew Research Center survey showing that nearly 40 percent of Americans say social media is an important source for coronavirus vaccine news. Pew conducted the survey from July 26 to Aug. 8. Here's some of what they found:

• Women and younger Americans are more likely than men and older Americans to say they get coronavirus vaccine news and information on social media; younger Americans and women are more likely to be on social media in the first place.
• About half of the respondents said they get news and information about vaccines from social media: 30% said they get "some" and 18% said they get "a lot."
• The other 51% say they've gotten little or no vaccine news or information from social media.
• Though half the respondents get at least some vaccine news from social media, only a few (6%) believe it's the best way.
• Another 33% said it's an important way, 29% said it's not an important way, and 31% said they don't get any vaccine news on social media.
• Respondents who say social media is an important source of vaccine information are more likely to regularly rely on social media for news in general.
• Only 4% of respondents said they regularly get general news from Snapchat, and 11% said the same about Instagram. But 85% of people who regularly get news from those platforms say they get a lot or some information about the vaccine there too.
• 31% of respondents said they regularly get general news from Facebook, and 82% of that group say they're getting vaccine news there too.