The Effect of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Authenticity Identification and Vaccination Behavior
32 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2022
Date Written: June 13, 2022
Abstract
Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is a serious problem around the world. In this study, two research questions were quantitatively tested using survey data (N=5, 569): How is authenticity identification of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation related to vaccination behavior? And What is the relationship between the type of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and vaccination behavior? Using a logit model, the results demonstrated that the probability of vaccination was lower when the respondents were exposed to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, both when they thought the information was correct and when they did not know whether the information was true or not. However, this varied depending on the field of misinformation. Misinformation about side effects (political content), efficacy, and conspiracy theories was associated with a tendency not to get a COVID-19 vaccine whether one believed the information or not, and the marginal effect was large for conspiracy theories. Misinformation about side effects (self-harm) demonstrated a tendency not to get a COVID-19 vaccine only when it was believed. In addition, misinformation about side effects (harm to others) demonstrated a tendency not to get a COVID-19 vaccine only when they were not known to be true. Furthermore, misinformation about the ingredients demonstrated no significant relationship with COVID-19 vaccination behavior.
Note:
Funding Information: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI [Grant Number JP21K12586] and Google Japan.
Conflict of Interests: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
Ethical Approval: All study participants provided informed consent, and the study design was approved by the appropriate ethics review board (GLOCOM Research Ethics Review Committee)- Number: GE22001.
Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine, social media, misinformation, conspiracy theories
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