From Conspiracy to Hesitancy: The Longitudinal Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Perceived Vaccine Effectiveness

The embrace of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine conspiracies has been linked to vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories and perceived vaccine effectiveness. The study utilized a longitudinal follow-up study in which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccines (Basel) 2023-06, Vol.11 (7), p.1150
Main Authors: Salazar-Fernández, Camila, Baeza-Rivera, María José, Manríquez-Robles, Diego, Salinas-Oñate, Natalia, Sallam, Malik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Conspiracy
Conspiracy theories
Coronaviruses
COVID-19 vaccines
Effectiveness
Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi
Health aspects
Health Sciences
Hälsovetenskap
Immunization
Medical and Health Sciences
Medical personnel
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Pandemics
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Public policy
Semiconductors
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
vaccine confidence
vaccine conspiracy
vaccine effectiveness
Vaccine efficacy
Vaccines
Viral diseases
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Summary:The embrace of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine conspiracies has been linked to vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories and perceived vaccine effectiveness. The study utilized a longitudinal follow-up study in which adults in Chile completed surveys in December 2020 (T1) and May 2021 (T2). The psychometric properties of the five-item instrument on conspiracy theories for the COVID-19 vaccine were evaluated using data from T1 ( = 578). A confirmatory one-factor structure with suitable indicators of reliability was found. The longitudinal analysis ( = 292) revealed that conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine in T1 were associated with lower beliefs in its effectiveness in T2. However, no significant association was found between beliefs in effectiveness in T1 and conspiracy theories in T2. The study suggests that beliefs in conspiracy theories may temporally precede beliefs in vaccine effectiveness for COVID-19. The results have implications for strategies to address vaccine conspiracy beliefs and their implementation at the public policy level.
ISSN:2076-393X
2076-393X
DOI:10.3390/vaccines11071150