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Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern
INTRODUCTION: The distrust, delay and refusal of vaccinations represent serious threats to global public health. As demonstrated by the dramatic worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate vaccine coverage against infectious diseases is essential towards the preservation and function of virt...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Pacini Editore Srl
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9351406/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35968072 http://dx.doi.org/10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.2.2320 |
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author | SIANI, ALESSANDRO CARTER, ISABELLE MOULTON, FLORENCE |
author_facet | SIANI, ALESSANDRO CARTER, ISABELLE MOULTON, FLORENCE |
author_sort | SIANI, ALESSANDRO |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: The distrust, delay and refusal of vaccinations represent serious threats to global public health. As demonstrated by the dramatic worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate vaccine coverage against infectious diseases is essential towards the preservation and function of virtually every aspect of our society. While the determinants of vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern have been widely investigated, conflicting evidence exists with regards to their association with education levels and political views. METHODS: This study aimed to investigate whether science literacy levels and standpoint on social and economic matters are associated with different levels of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern. An online survey was circulated amongst participants recruited via convenience sampling, and data were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. RESULTS: The survey (n = 389) highlighted that participants who studied Science at General Certificate of Secondary Education level have a lower vaccine confidence than those with both lower and higher levels of science education. Participants with neutral/centrist political views expressed lower confidence than those with a libertarian social stance or a left-wing economic stance. A higher concern with the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with lower levels of science education, libertarian social views, and left-wing economic views. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides novel insight on the educational and political factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern within a British population sample. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9351406 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Pacini Editore Srl |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93514062022-08-12 Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern SIANI, ALESSANDRO CARTER, ISABELLE MOULTON, FLORENCE J Prev Med Hyg Health Promotion INTRODUCTION: The distrust, delay and refusal of vaccinations represent serious threats to global public health. As demonstrated by the dramatic worldwide impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate vaccine coverage against infectious diseases is essential towards the preservation and function of virtually every aspect of our society. While the determinants of vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern have been widely investigated, conflicting evidence exists with regards to their association with education levels and political views. METHODS: This study aimed to investigate whether science literacy levels and standpoint on social and economic matters are associated with different levels of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern. An online survey was circulated amongst participants recruited via convenience sampling, and data were analysed using non-parametric statistical tests. RESULTS: The survey (n = 389) highlighted that participants who studied Science at General Certificate of Secondary Education level have a lower vaccine confidence than those with both lower and higher levels of science education. Participants with neutral/centrist political views expressed lower confidence than those with a libertarian social stance or a left-wing economic stance. A higher concern with the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with lower levels of science education, libertarian social views, and left-wing economic views. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides novel insight on the educational and political factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern within a British population sample. Pacini Editore Srl 2022-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9351406/ /pubmed/35968072 http://dx.doi.org/10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.2.2320 Text en ©2022 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the CC-BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International) license. The article can be used by giving appropriate credit and mentioning the license, but only for non-commercial purposes and only in the original version. For further information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en |
spellingShingle | Health Promotion SIANI, ALESSANDRO CARTER, ISABELLE MOULTON, FLORENCE Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title | Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title_full | Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title_fullStr | Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title_full_unstemmed | Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title_short | Political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and COVID-19 concern |
title_sort | political views and science literacy as indicators of vaccine confidence and covid-19 concern |
topic | Health Promotion |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9351406/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35968072 http://dx.doi.org/10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2022.63.2.2320 |
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