Misinformation, believability, and vaccine acceptance over 40 countries: Takeaways from the initial phase of the COVID-19 infodemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been damaging to the lives of people all around the world. Accompanied by the pandemic is an infodemic, an abundant and uncontrolled spread of potentially harmful misinformation. The infodemic may severely change the pandemic’s course by interfering with public health interventions such as wearing masks, social distancing, and vaccination. In particular, the impact of the infodemic on vaccination is critical because it holds the key to reverting to pre-pandemic normalcy. This paper presents findings from a global survey on the extent of worldwide exposure to the COVID-19 infodemic, assesses different populations’ susceptibility to false claims, and analyzes its association with vaccine acceptance. Based on responses gathered from over 18,400 individuals from 40 countries, we find a strong association between perceived believability of COVID-19 misinformation and vaccination hesitancy. Our study shows that only half of the online users exposed to rumors might have seen corresponding fact-checked information. Moreover, depending on the country, between 6% and 37% of individuals considered these rumors believable. A key finding of this research is that poorer regions were more susceptible to encountering and believing COVID-19 misinformation; countries with lower gross domestic product (GDP) per capita showed a substantially higher prevalence of misinformation. We discuss implications of our findings to public campaigns that proactively spread accurate information to countries that are more susceptible to the infodemic. We also defend that fact-checking platforms should prioritize claims that not only have wide exposure but are also perceived to be believable. Our findings give insights into how to successfully handle risk communication during the initial phase of a future pandemic.

Parents' Hesitancy to Vaccinate Their Children Against COVID-19, a Country-Wide Survey

“…During the pandemic of COVID-19, the crucial role of the COVID-19 vaccine against the pandemic was opposed by a massive infodemic of misinformation and conspiracy theories ( 12 , 13 ). For many reasons, COVID-19 vaccines evaluation was delayed in the pediatric age group and therefore authorization was granted later in the pandemic.…”

Willingness to get vaccinated with the first‐generation vaccines against SARS‐CoV‐2

“…People's willingness to get vaccinated is the product of a series of factors that have been highlighted in previous research (Galanis et al., 2022 ; Kim et al., 2021 ; Lin et al., 2021 ; Pogue et al., 2020 ; Ştefănuţ et al., 2021 ; Wheelock et al., 2014 ; Zhou et al., 2021 ). Confidence in the vaccines, experience, available information and the credibility of information sources are the keys to encouraging people to get vaccinated (Dubé et al., 2018 ; Singh et al., 2022 ).…”

Over time, evidence changes

“…The recent COVID-19 pandemic unleashed an “infodemic”, which is an abundant and uncontrolled spread of potentially harmful misinformation. 1 The prevalence and the inability to fact check the misinformation was likely the cause of a worldwide vaccination hesitancy. As an international authorship team of a recent publication in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy, 2 we have experienced a similar misinformation proliferation in physical therapy.…”