A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan

Arshad, Muhammad; Hussain, Iltaf; Mahmood, Tahir; Hayat, Khezar; Majeed, Abdul; Imran, Imran; Saeed, Hamid; Iqbal, Muhammad Omer; Uzair, Muhammad; Rehman, Anees Ur; Ashraf, Waseem; Usman, Areeba; Syed, Shahzada Khurram; Akbar, Muqarrab; Chaudhry, Muhammad Omer; Ramzan, Basit; Islam, Muhammad; Saleem, Muhammad; Shakeel, Waleed; Iqbal, Iqra; Hashmi, Furqan Khurshid; Rasool, Muhammad Fawad

doi:10.3390/vaccines9070720

Cited by 47 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Specifically, as our results show, people with a low level of education are more prone to believe in such theories (H6 validated). Consistent with previous research [27,85], our study provides empirical support for the idea that the more educated citizens are, the less likely they are to embrace conspiracy narratives. This demonstrates the need to design solutions that should include education as a key factor in guiding effective responses to crisis situations of all kinds (and especially health-related ones) [103].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In what specifically concerns the current pandemic, different studies [7,27] have found a negative correlation between education and COVID-19-conspiracy beliefs, including vaccine and vaccination-related conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, Arshad et al (2021) [85] also demonstrated that education is negatively associated with conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccination. Following this line of reasoning, here, we advance hypothesize that: Hypothesis 6 (H6).…”

Section: Conspiracy Theories and Predictors Of Conspiracy Beliefsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles

et al. 2021

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The current COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by the circulation of an unprecedented amount of “polluted” information, especially in the social media environment, among which are false narratives and conspiracy theories about both the pandemic and vaccination against COVID-19. The effects of such questionable information primarily concern the lack of compliance with restrictive measures and a negative attitude towards vaccination campaigns, as well as more complex social effects, such as street protests or distrust in governments and authorities in general. Even though there is a lot of scholarly attention given to these narratives in many countries, research about the profile of people who are more prone to believe or spread them is rather scarce. In this context, we investigate the role of age, compared with other socio-demographic factors (such as education and religiosity), as well as the role of the media (the frequency of news consumption, the perceived usefulness of social media, and the perceived incidence of fake information about the virus in the media) and the critical thinking disposition of people who tend to believe such misleading narratives. To address these issues, we conducted a national survey (N = 945) in April 2021 in Romania. Using a hierarchical OLS regression model, we found that people who perceive higher incidence of fake news (ß = 0.33, p < 0.001), find social media platforms more useful (ß = 0.13, p < 0.001), have lower education (ß = −0.17, p < 0.001), and have higher levels of religiosity (ß = 0.08, p < 0.05) are more prone to believe COVID-19-related misleading narratives. At the same time, the frequency of news consumption (regardless of the type of media), critical thinking disposition, and age do not play a significant role in the profile of the believer in conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic. Somewhat surprisingly, age does not play a role in predicting belief in conspiracy theories, even though there are studies that suggest that older people are more prone to believe conspiracy narratives. As far as media is concerned, the frequency of news media consumption does not significantly differ for believers and non-believers. We discuss these results within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Conspiracy Theories and Predictors Of Conspiracy Beliefsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles

et al. 2021

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“…Only vaccine conspiracy theory beliefs were shown to significantly negatively affect the Chinese public’s intention to receive COVID-19 vaccines, which means that the more the Chinese public believes in conspiracy theories related to vaccines, such as “the government often conceals the safety deficiencies of COVID-19 vaccines”, the less they are inclined to get the vaccine. COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs, which most studies believe may have a powerful impact on people’s vaccination intentions [ 36 , 39 , 40 ], did not show a significant correlation in this survey, regardless of whether they believed that COVID-19 originated in China (China as culprit) or abroad (foreign origin).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 66%

Is It All a Conspiracy? Conspiracy Theories and People’s Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccination

2021

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A large body of research has found that people’s beliefs in conspiracy theories about infectious diseases negatively impacts their health behaviors concerning vaccination. Conspiracy belief-based vaccination hesitancy has become more rampant after the global outbreak of COVID-19. However, some important questions remain unanswered. For instance, do different versions of conspiracy theories—particularly conspiracy theories about the origin of the epidemic (e.g., that the SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a Wuhan virology laboratory or that the virus was of foreign origin) and the general theories about vaccine conspiracies (e.g., pharmaceutical companies covered up the danger of vaccines or people are being deceived about the effectiveness of vaccines)—have the same effect on vaccination intentions? Through a national survey adopting quota sampling in China, the current study tested the relationship between people’s conspiracy beliefs and their intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The findings show that people’s embrace of conspiracy theories did indeed affect their intention to take COVID-19 shots. However, only conspiracy theories related to vaccines had a significant impact, while belief in more general theories about COVID-19 did not significantly affect vaccination intentions. People’s knowledge of vaccines (vaccine literacy) played an important role in this relationship. People with lower beliefs in vaccines conspiracy theories and higher levels of vaccine literacy were more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

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“…The Muslims had more hesitancy about the receipt of coronavirus vaccination in the current study. The notion of considering vaccines as ‘medical assault’, doubts regarding the ingredients of the vaccines (doubts over the inclusion of ingredients like pork gelatin) may play a role behind the increased hesitancy of Muslim people regarding COVID-19 vaccines [ 14 , 37 ]. The COVID-19 vaccines have been considered a ‘western plot’ to sterilize Muslim women in Asian countries like Pakistan.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The COVID-19 vaccines have been considered a ‘western plot’ to sterilize Muslim women in Asian countries like Pakistan. Thus vaccine has been largely discouraged by the community [ 37 , 38 ]. Similarly, in different earlier non-COVID-19 examples of the middle-income countries like Malaysia, such as in the cases of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), religious ruling against vaccines considering them as ‘ haram ’ (forbidden) due to the suspected presence of ingredients derived from pigs, receiving vaccines were discouraged [ 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the adult population in Bangladesh: A nationwide cross-sectional survey

et al. 2021

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Introduction Studies related to the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy are scanty in Bangladesh, despite the growing necessity of understanding the population behavior related to vaccination. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its associated factors in Bangladesh to fill the knowledge gap. Methods and materials This study adopted a cross-sectional design to collect data from 1497 respondents using online (Google forms) and face-to-face interviews from eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh between 1–7 February 2021. We employed descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 46.2%. The Muslims (aOR = 1.80, p ≤ 0.01) and the respondents living in the city corporation areas (aOR = 2.14, p ≤0.001) had more hesitancy. There was significant variation in vaccine hesitancy by administrative divisions (geographic regions). Compared to the Sylhet division, the participants from Khulna (aOR = 1.31, p ≤0.001) had higher hesitancy. The vaccine hesitancy tended to decrease with increasing knowledge about the vaccine (aOR = 0.88, p≤0.001) and the vaccination process (aOR = 0.91, p ≤ 0.01). On the other hand, hesitancy increased with the increased negative attitudes towards the vaccine (aOR = 1.17, p≤0.001) and conspiracy beliefs towards the COVID-19 vaccine (aOR = 1.04, p≤0.01). The perceived benefits of COVID-19 vaccination (aOR = 0.85, p≤0.001) were negatively associated with hesitancy, while perceived barriers (aOR = 1.16, p ≤0.001) were positively associated. The participants were more hesitant to accept the vaccine from a specific country of origin (India, USA, Europe). Conclusions Our findings warrant that a vigorous behavior change communication campaign should be designed and implemented to demystify negative public attitudes and conspiracy beliefs regarding the COVID-19 Vaccine in Bangladesh. The policymakers should also think about revisiting the policy of the online registration process to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, as online registration is a key structural barrier for many due to the persistent digital divide in the country. Finally, the government should consider the population’s preference regarding vaccines’ country of manufacture to reduce the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

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A National Survey to Assess the COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Conspiracy Beliefs, Acceptability, Preference, and Willingness to Pay among the General Population of Pakistan

Cited by 47 publications

References 55 publications

Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles

Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories about the COVID-19 Pandemic in Romania? An Analysis of Conspiracy Theories Believers’ Profiles

Is It All a Conspiracy? Conspiracy Theories and People’s Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccination

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the adult population in Bangladesh: A nationwide cross-sectional survey

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