Social media, conspiracies, and political partisanship must be accounted for during the pandemic

BACKGROUND: The infodemic accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic made us aware that many factors not directly associated with the public health system can influence society's adherence to preventive measures. This study aimed to analyze the effects of social media use (SMU), generic conspiracist beliefs (GCB), and political sympathies (PS) on the compliance with general preventive measures (GPM) recommended during the pandemic and uptake of vaccination against COVID-19 (UC19V). METHODS: Data were obtained during an Internet-based survey performed 1.5 years from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland in a representative sample. The effects of SMU, GCB, and PS on the GPM score (wearing the mask, washing hands, and keeping a distance) were analyzed with multivariable linear regression (MLiR) model. The role of these variables in the UC19V was assessed with the multivariable logistic regression (MLoR) model. For MLiR, B coefficients and 95% confidential intervals (95%CI) were reported, and for MLoR, odds ratio (OR) and 95%CI. RESULTS: Among 2189 respondents, those who accepted COVID-19 vaccination were 73.5%. Users of social media were 93.6%. All three independent variables were significantly associated with the GPM score and UC19V. GCB score was adversely associated with UC19V (OR, 95%CI: 0.42; 0.36-0.48) and with the GPM score (B; 95%CI: -0.15; -0.23 - - 0.76). The most intense SM users were less likely to adhere to GPM than non-users (B, 95%CI: -0.20; -0.37 -0.02). They were also 40% less likely to receive vaccination than non-users (OR, 95%CI: 0.59; 0.43-0.81). The extreme right-wing party supporters less frequently complied with GPM (B, 95%CI: -1.01; -1.28 -0.75) and were 50% less likely to get vaccinated than supporters of the ruling party (OR, 95%CI: 0.47; 0.31-0.70). CONCLUSIONS: The SMU, GCB, and PS remain independent negative predictors of accepting COVID-19 vaccination and adherence to general preventive measures. KEY MESSAGES: • Effective implementation of preventive measures during the pandemic requires incorporating several circumstances outside health and public health systems. • Political sympathies, general conspiracist thinking, and immersion in social media independently decrease compliance with preventive measures and vaccination during epidemic threats.