The vaccination against COVID-19 in debate: discourses in digital media in Mexico, Brazil and Peru (2020-2021)

In the context of COVID-19 vaccination, journalism faced significant challenges in Latin America. This study analyzes the discourses on COVID-19 vaccination in digital news from Latin American media (Mexico, Brazil, and Peru) during 2020–2021. Methodologically, a mixed-methods, cross-sectional, and associative type, aimed at exploring patterns of relationship between discursive categories, employing discourse analysis on journalistic content from eight digital media outlets in the studied countries. Four main discourses were identified: vaccination as good news, a controversy to resolve, an imperative, and within an international context. The results show that the presence of narratives reinforcing credibility and positive beliefs about vaccination is associated with higher levels of perceived safety among the population. Conversely, the circulation of critical discourses against vaccination is related to higher levels of uncertainty, as well as to attitudes linked to vaccine hesitancy.