Countering vaccine hesitancy through medical expert endorsement

Scientists and medical experts are among the professionals trusted the most. Are they also the most suitable figures to convince the general public to get vaccinated? In a pre-registered experiment, we tested whether expert endorsement increases the effectiveness of debunking messages about COVID-19...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vaccine 2022-07, Vol.40 (32), p.4635-4643
Main Authors: Ronzani, Piero, Panizza, Folco, Martini, Carlo, Savadori, Lucia, Motterlini, Matteo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 infection
COVID-19 Vaccines
Data collection
Demographics
Education
Endorsements
False information
Humans
Immunization
Intention
Intervention
Italy
Longitudinal Studies
Medical research
Messages
Pandemics
Perceptions
Professionals
Scientists
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Trust
Vaccination
Vaccination Hesitancy
Vaccines
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Summary:Scientists and medical experts are among the professionals trusted the most. Are they also the most suitable figures to convince the general public to get vaccinated? In a pre-registered experiment, we tested whether expert endorsement increases the effectiveness of debunking messages about COVID-19 vaccines. We monitored a sample of 2,277 people in Italy through a longitudinal study along the salient phases of the vaccination campaign. Participants received a series of messages endorsed by either medical researchers (experimental group) or by generic others (control). In order to minimise demand effects, we collected participants' responses always at ten days from the last debunking message. Whereas we did not find an increase in vaccination behaviour, we found that participants in the experimental group displayed higher intention to vaccinate, as well as more positive beliefs about the protectiveness of vaccines. The more debunking messages the participants received, the greater the increase in vaccination intention in the experimental group compared to control. This suggests that multiple exposure is critical for the effectiveness of expert-endorsed debunking messages. In addition, these effects are significant regardless of participants' trust toward science. Our results suggest that scientist and medical experts are not simply a generally trustworthy category but also a well suited messenger in contrasting disinformation during vaccination campaigns.
ISSN:0264-410X
1873-2518
1873-2518
DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.06.031