  In this paper, we analyzed the perceived accuracy of COVID-19 vaccine
information spoken back by Amazon Alexa. Unlike social media, Amazon Alexa
doesn't apply soft moderation to unverified content, allowing for use of
third-party malicious skills to arbitrarily phrase COVID-19 vaccine
information. The results from a 210-participant study suggest that a
third-party malicious skill could successful reduce the perceived accuracy
among the users of information as to who gets the vaccine first, vaccine
testing, and the side effects of the vaccine. We also found that the
vaccine-hesitant participants are drawn to pessimistically rephrased Alexa
responses focused on the downsides of the mass immunization. We discuss
solutions for soft moderation against misperception-inducing or altogether
COVID-19 misinformation malicious third-party skills.
