The Credibility of Health Information Sources as Predictors of Attitudes toward Vaccination—The Results from a Longitudinal Study in Poland

Abstract

Background: The research focused on the relationships between attitudes towards vaccination and the trust placed in different sources of information (science, experts and the information available on the Internet) before and during COVID-19. Method: A longitudinal design was applied with the first measurement in February 2018 (N = 1039). The second measurement (N = 400) was carried out in December 2020 to test if the pandemic influenced the trust in different sources of information. Results: The final analyses carried out on final sample of 400 participants showed that there has been no change in trust in the Internet as a source of knowledge about health during the pandemic. However, the trust in science, physicians, subjective health knowledge, as well as the attitude towards the vaccination has declined. Regression analysis also showed that changes in the level of trust in physicians and science were associated with analogous (in the same direction) changes in attitudes toward vaccination. The study was also focused on the trust in different sources of health knowledge as possible predictors of willingness to be vaccinated against SARS-nCoV-2. However, it appeared that the selected predictors explained a small part of the variance. This suggests that attitudes toward the new COVID vaccines may have different sources than attitudes toward vaccines that have been known to the public for a long time.

Determinants of the Hesitancy toward COVID-19 Vaccination in Eastern European Countries and the Relationship with Health and Vaccine Literacy: A Literature Review

“…Results from a study conducted in Slovenia demonstrated the positive association between confidence in official sources (experts, public health institutions) and the intention to get vaccinated [ 52 ]. According to a study in Poland, the amount of confidence in physicians and science was linked to similar changes in views regarding vaccination [ 68 ].…”

Declared Intention (Not) to Be Vaccinated against COVID-19, and Actual Behavior—The Longitudinal Study in the Polish Sample

“…Organized anti-vaccine movements spreading their arguments through websites, which are growing in popularity, are also an important source of information for vaccine skeptics. People who refuse vaccination justify their position most frequently by their fear of the side effects of vaccination, their belief that vaccinations do not in fact protect against disease, and their distrust of pharmaceutical companies [11][12][13][14].…”

A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study on the Risk of Getting Sick with COVID-19, the Course of the Disease, and the Impact of the National Vaccination Program against SARS-CoV-2 on Vaccination among Health Professionals in Poland

“…A large proportion of the respondents, however, did not have a positive opinion about the vaccination program as a source of information, and this may be of great importance when it comes to understanding the attitude of the general population. The limited accuracy of the information on the internet is often a result of the fact that anyone can potentially publish health information [ 44 ]. Moreover, internet sources are often blamed for the rise in vaccine skepticism because of their role in spreading misinformation on an unprecedented scale, which is used by anti-vaccination movements.…”