Online misinformation is linked to early COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy and refusal

Francesco Pierri · Brea Louise Perry · Matthew DeVerna · Kai-Cheng Yang · Alessandro Flammini · Filippo Menczer +1 more

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Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research Misinformation and Its Impacts

Abstract

Widespread uptake of vaccines is necessary to achieve herd immunity. However, uptake rates have varied across U.S. states during the first six months of the COVID-19 vaccination program. Misbeliefs may play an important role in vaccine hesitancy, and there is a need to understand relationships between misinformation, beliefs, behaviors, and health outcomes. Here we investigate the extent to which COVID-19 vaccination rates and vaccine hesitancy are associated with levels of online misinformation about vaccines. We also look for evidence of directionality from online misinformation to vaccine hesitancy. We find a negative relationship between misinformation and vaccination uptake rates. Online misinformation is also correlated with vaccine hesitancy rates taken from survey data. Associations between vaccine outcomes and misinformation remain significant when accounting for political as well as demographic and socioeconomic factors. While vaccine hesitancy is strongly associated with Republican vote share, we observe that the effect of online misinformation on hesitancy is strongest across Democratic rather than Republican counties. Granger causality analysis shows evidence for a directional relationship from online misinformation to vaccine hesitancy. Our results support a need for interventions that address misbeliefs, allowing individuals to make better-informed health decisions.

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References

1969Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-spectral Methods 2015Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants 2018The science of fake news 2019Fake news on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election 2021Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA 2021COVID-19 Vaccination Hesitancy in the United States: A Rapid National Assessment 2021Looking beyond COVID-19 vaccine phase 3 trials 2021Correlates and disparities of intention to vaccinate against COVID-19

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2024Factuality challenges in the era of large language models and opportunities for fact-checking 2024Quantifying the impact of misinformation and vaccine-skeptical content on Facebook 2022The Prevalence, Features, Influencing Factors, and Solutions for COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation: Systematic Review 2024Behavioural interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation on social media 2022Social media behavior is associated with vaccine hesitancy

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