Misinformation, Perceptions Towards COVID-19 and Willingness to be Vaccinated: A Population-Based Survey in Yemen

Abstract

Background Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, many pharmaceutical companies were racing to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Simultaneously, rumors and misinformation about COVID-19 were and still widely spreading. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 misinformation among the Yemeni population and its association with vaccine acceptance and perceptions. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in four major cities in Yemen. The constructed questionnaire consisted of four main sections (sociodemographic data, misinformation, perceptions (perceived susceptibility, severity and worry), and vaccination acceptance evaluation). Subject recruitment and data collection were conducted online utilizing social websites and using the snowball sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using SPSS version 27. Results The total number of respondents was 484. Over 60% of them were male and had a university education, more than half had less than 100$ monthly income and were Khat chewers, while only 18% were smokers. Misinformation prevalence ranged from 8.9% to 38.9%, depending on the statement being asked. Men, university education, higher income, employment, and living in urban areas were associated with a lower misinformation level ( p <0.05). Statistically significant association ( p <0.05) between university education, living in urban areas, and being employed with perceived susceptibility were observed. The acceptance rate was 61.2% for free vaccines, but it decreased to 43% if they had to purchase it. Females, respondents with lower monthly income, and those who believed that pharmaceutical companies made the virus for financial gains were more likely to reject the vaccination ( p <0.05). Conclusion The study revealed that the acceptance rate to take a vaccine was suboptimal and significantly affected by gender, misinformation, cost, and income. Furthermore, being female, Non-university educated, low-income, and living in rural areas were associated with higher susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 . These findings show a clear link between misinformation susceptibility and willingness to vaccinate. Focused awareness campaigns to decrease misinformation and emphasize the vaccination's safety and efficacy might be fundamental before initiating any mass vaccination in Yemen.

Persuasive Messages Will Not Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance: Evidence from a Nationwide Online Experiment

“…Studies investigating the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine attitudes (see [7,8] for reviews) typically found them to be more negative among low-income [9][10][11], less educated [3,12] populaces, and among ethnic minorities [11,12] and the young [3,11]. Some authors [9][10][11] identify higher COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in males but a major study by Lazarus et al [3] shows the opposite.…”

“…Studies investigating the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine attitudes (see [7,8] for reviews) typically found them to be more negative among low-income [9][10][11], less educated [3,12] populaces, and among ethnic minorities [11,12] and the young [3,11]. Some authors [9][10][11] identify higher COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in males but a major study by Lazarus et al [3] shows the opposite. International comparisons suggest the most positive attitudes are in Asian countries with a high level of trust in the central government and more negative in Central and Eastern Europe [3,4], possibly as a legacy of Soviet communism [13].…”

“…By contrast, given that Wave 2 was a stand-alone study, this time we do not have variables related to the study preceding Wave 1. We are also able to add model [9] testing for order effects. This includes interactions between messages and their position among all messages shown to the given responder and interactions between messages and dummies for them being shown as the very first message.…”

“…By contrast, hypotheses concerning moderation effects are soundly rejected, with interaction terms of models 4-7 being jointly insignificant (the only exception is that an unexpected positive interaction between conspiracy score and a statement about producer reputation (v_prod_reputation) leads to conspiracy-experimental treatment interactions of model [7] being significant). The interactions of models [8,9] are likewise insignificant (for the detailed regression output, see Supplementary S6). Overall, the results are very close to those of Wave 1.…”

A Study of Misinformation Exposure of Covid-19 Vaccine and the Willingness to Be Vaccinated in Tangerang Selatan City, Indonesia

“…This study findings show that misinformation exposure of COVID-19 vaccine was not associated with willingness to be vaccinated. A study in Yemen indicated a clear relationship between misinformation and willingness to COVID-19 vaccination 27 . Moreover, another study revealed that misinformation exposure had declined the intention to be vaccinated among people in UK and USA who previously agreed on the COVID-19 vaccine 15 .…”