Conspiracy beliefs and vaccination intent for COVID-19 in an infodemic

Abstract

Background The massive, free and unrestricted exchange of information on the social media during the Covid-19 pandemic has set fertile grounds for fear, uncertainty and the rise of fake news related to the virus. This “viral” spread of fake news created an “infodemic” that threatened the compliance with public health guidelines and recommendations. Objective This study aims to describe the trust in social media platforms and the exposure to fake news about COVID-19 in Lebanon and to explore their association with vaccination intent. Methods In this cross-sectional study conducted in Lebanon during July–August, 2020, a random sample of 1052 participants selected from a mobile-phone database responded to an anonymous structured questionnaire after obtaining informed consent (response rate = 40%). The questionnaire was conducted by telephone and measured socio-demographics, sources and trust in sources of information and exposure to fake news, social media activity, perceived threat and vaccination intent. Results Results indicated that the majority of participants (82%) believed that COVID-19 is a threat and 52% had intention to vaccinate. Exposure to fake/ unverified news was high (19.7% were often and 63.8% were sometimes exposed, mainly to fake news shared through Watsapp and Facebook). Trust in certain information sources (WHO, MoPH and TV) increased while trust in others (Watsapp, Facebook) reduced vaccination intent against Covid-19. Believing in the man-made theory and the business control theory significantly reduced the likelihood of vaccination intent (Beta = 0.43; p = 0.01 and Beta = -0.29; p = 0.05) respectively. Conclusion In the context of the infodemic, understanding the role of exposure to fake news and of conspiracy believes in shaping healthy behavior is important for increasing vaccination intent and planning adequate response to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination in Changing the Adherence to Preventive Measures: Evidence from Italy

“…Availability and accessibility to information on COVID-19 vaccination are crucial for the general population to help the individuals to make informed decisions and to have safe preventive behaviors. The positive effect of the information received from institutional and scientific sources on the correct perception of the severity of COVID-19 aligns well with the results from previous research which found that the exposure to these sources have a positive impact on the level of knowledge, on the attitudes, and on the acceptability of the vaccination than those exposed to other sources [ 12 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Moreover, it was particularly notable that the internet has become the third major source for respondents seeking vaccine information.…”

Factors Influencing Willingness to Be Vaccinated against COVID-19 in Nigeria

“…This is a very critical concern because urban dwellers are largely educated with a significant presence on several social media platforms [ 41 ]. In some previous studies, several authors have reported negative association between social media exposure and the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ], while others reported positive association [ 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 ].…”

Counteracting conspiracy ideas as a measure of increasing propensity for COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Russian society

“…However, most researchers note that the enormous surge of conspiracy ideas may be well explained by unprecedented levels of globalisation [ 16 , 17 ], digitisation [ 17 ], cultural unification [ 18 ], diminished levels of information quality/controllability in pandemic times [ 19 ], “bloggification” (the emergence of an almost endless amount of sources of information and centres of ideological influence on the Internet: personal blogs, independent media, independent health care experts, etc.) [ 20 ], and distrust towards the public policy [ 21 ]. Social media has been a useful vehicle for the instantaneous spread of conspiracy ideas about COVID-19 vaccination across huge audiences, a phenomenon that was not a feature of former epidemics, pandemics, or health care crises.…”