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COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia

Central to a successful population vaccination program is high uptake of vaccines. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake may be impeded by beliefs based on misinformation. We sought to understand the prevalence and nature of misbeliefs about COVID-19 vaccines, and identify associated factors, shortly aft...

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Autores principales: Pickles, Kristen, Copp, Tessa, Meyerowitz-Katz, Gideon, Dodd, Rachael H., Bonner, Carissa, Nickel, Brooke, Steffens, Maryke S., Seale, Holly, Cvejic, Erin, Taba, Melody, Chau, Brian, McCaffery, Kirsten J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682466
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116883
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author Pickles, Kristen
Copp, Tessa
Meyerowitz-Katz, Gideon
Dodd, Rachael H.
Bonner, Carissa
Nickel, Brooke
Steffens, Maryke S.
Seale, Holly
Cvejic, Erin
Taba, Melody
Chau, Brian
McCaffery, Kirsten J.
author_facet Pickles, Kristen
Copp, Tessa
Meyerowitz-Katz, Gideon
Dodd, Rachael H.
Bonner, Carissa
Nickel, Brooke
Steffens, Maryke S.
Seale, Holly
Cvejic, Erin
Taba, Melody
Chau, Brian
McCaffery, Kirsten J.
author_sort Pickles, Kristen
collection PubMed
description Central to a successful population vaccination program is high uptake of vaccines. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake may be impeded by beliefs based on misinformation. We sought to understand the prevalence and nature of misbeliefs about COVID-19 vaccines, and identify associated factors, shortly after commencement of Australia’s national vaccine rollout. A cross-sectional survey was administered to unvaccinated young adults (n = 2050) in Australia aged 18–49 years (mean age 33 years), 13 July–21 August 2021. This sample was previously under-represented in COVID-19 research but shown to have less willingness to vaccinate. Two thirds of participants agreed with at least one misbelief item. Misperceptions about COVID-19 vaccines were found to be significantly associated with lower health literacy, less knowledge about vaccines, lower perceived personal risk of COVID-19, greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, and lower confidence and trust in government and scientific institutions. Misbeliefs were more common in participants with less educational attainment, in younger age groups, and in males, as per previous research. Understanding determinants and barriers to vaccination uptake, such as knowledge and beliefs based on misinformation, can help to shape effective public health communication and inform debunking efforts at this critical time and in the future.
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spelling pubmed-91807362022-06-10 COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia Pickles, Kristen Copp, Tessa Meyerowitz-Katz, Gideon Dodd, Rachael H. Bonner, Carissa Nickel, Brooke Steffens, Maryke S. Seale, Holly Cvejic, Erin Taba, Melody Chau, Brian McCaffery, Kirsten J. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Central to a successful population vaccination program is high uptake of vaccines. However, COVID-19 vaccine uptake may be impeded by beliefs based on misinformation. We sought to understand the prevalence and nature of misbeliefs about COVID-19 vaccines, and identify associated factors, shortly after commencement of Australia’s national vaccine rollout. A cross-sectional survey was administered to unvaccinated young adults (n = 2050) in Australia aged 18–49 years (mean age 33 years), 13 July–21 August 2021. This sample was previously under-represented in COVID-19 research but shown to have less willingness to vaccinate. Two thirds of participants agreed with at least one misbelief item. Misperceptions about COVID-19 vaccines were found to be significantly associated with lower health literacy, less knowledge about vaccines, lower perceived personal risk of COVID-19, greater endorsement of conspiracy beliefs, and lower confidence and trust in government and scientific institutions. Misbeliefs were more common in participants with less educational attainment, in younger age groups, and in males, as per previous research. Understanding determinants and barriers to vaccination uptake, such as knowledge and beliefs based on misinformation, can help to shape effective public health communication and inform debunking efforts at this critical time and in the future. MDPI 2022-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9180736/ /pubmed/35682466 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116883 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Pickles, Kristen
Copp, Tessa
Meyerowitz-Katz, Gideon
Dodd, Rachael H.
Bonner, Carissa
Nickel, Brooke
Steffens, Maryke S.
Seale, Holly
Cvejic, Erin
Taba, Melody
Chau, Brian
McCaffery, Kirsten J.
COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title_full COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title_fullStr COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title_short COVID-19 Vaccine Misperceptions in a Community Sample of Adults Aged 18–49 Years in Australia
title_sort covid-19 vaccine misperceptions in a community sample of adults aged 18–49 years in australia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180736/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682466
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116883
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