Keywords
vaccine hesitancy
science literacy
political views
COVID-19
pandemic concern
science literacy
political views
COVID-19
pandemic concern
Abstract
IntroductionThe 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.
MethodsThis 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.
ResultsThe 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.
ConclusionsThe present study provides novel insight on the educational and political factors associated with vaccine hesitancy and pandemic concern within a British population sample.
References
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[2] J. L. Schwartz, "New media, old messages: themes in the history of vaccine hesitancy and refusal," AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 50-55, 2012.
[3] N. E. MacDonald, "Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants," Vaccine, vol. 33, no. 34, pp. 4161-4164, 2015/08/14/ 2015, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.036.
[4] A. M. Butler, V. F. Grabinski, G. D. Boloker, J. G. Newland, and M. C. Politi, "A qualitative study examining pediatric clinicians’ perceptions of delayed vaccine schedules," Vaccine, vol. 38, no. 30, pp. 4740-4746, 2020.
[5] World Health Organization. "Report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy." http://www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2014/october/SAGE_working_group_revised_report_vaccine_hesitancy.pdf (accessed 06/06/2020)
[6] M. Kulenkampff, J. S. Schwartzman, and J. Wilson, "Neurological complications of pertussis inoculation," (in English), Archives of Disease in Childhood, Article vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 46-49, 01 / 01 / 1974, doi: 10.1136/adc.49.1.46.
[7] G. M. Fenichel, "The pertussis vaccine controversy: The danger of case reports," Archives of neurology, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 193-194, 1983.
[8] J. Boulton, "The UK pertussis epidemic: implications for immunisation," British journal of nursing, vol. 22, no. 18, pp. 1046-1050, 2013.
[9] E. J. Gangarosa et al., "Impact of anti-vaccine movements on pertussis control: the untold story," Lancet, journal article vol. 351, no. 9099, pp. 356-361, 1998, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)04334-1.
[10] A. J. Wakefield et al., "RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children," ed: Elsevier, 1998.
[11] L. O. Gostin et al., "The public health crisis of underimmunisation: a global plan of action," The Lancet Infectious Diseases, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. e11-e16, 2020.
[12] A. Siani, "Measles outbreaks in Italy: A paradigm of the re-emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases in developed countries," Preventive Medicine, Review Article vol. 121, pp. 99-104, 04/01/April 2019 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2019.02.011.
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[15] D. Fancourt, A. Steptoe, and L. Wright, "The Cummings effect: politics, trust, and behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic," The Lancet, vol. 396, no. 10249, pp. 464-465, 2020.
[16] P. Peretti-Watel et al., "A future vaccination campaign against COVID-19 at risk of vaccine hesitancy and politicisation," The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2020.
[17] M. Rollwage, R. J. Dolan, and S. M. Fleming, "Metacognitive failure as a feature of those holding radical beliefs," Current Biology, vol. 28, no. 24, pp. 4014-4021. e8, 2018.
[18] S. Van Kessel, Populist parties in Europe: Agents of discontent? Springer, 2015.
[19] J. Kennedy, "Populist politics and vaccine hesitancy in Western Europe: an analysis of national-level data," vol. 29, ed, 2019, pp. 512-516.
[20] R. M. Carpiano, A. N. Polonijo, N. Gilbert, L. Cantin, and E. Dubé, "Socioeconomic status differences in parental immunization attitudes and child immunization in Canada: Findings from the 2013 Childhood National Immunization Coverage Survey (CNICS)," Preventive medicine, vol. 123, pp. 278-287, 2019.
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[22] A. L. Wagner et al., "Comparisons of vaccine hesitancy across five low-and middle-income countries," Vaccines, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 155, 2019.
[23] A. Bocquier, J. Ward, J. Raude, P. Peretti-Watel, and P. Verger, "Socioeconomic differences in childhood vaccination in developed countries: a systematic review of quantitative studies," Expert review of vaccines, vol. 16, no. 11, pp. 1107-1118, 2017.
[24] C. Lorini et al., "Health literacy and vaccination: A systematic review," Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 478-488, 2018.
[25] A. Fasce and A. Picó, "Science as a vaccine," Science & Education, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 109-125, 2019.
[26] A. R. Landrum and A. Olshansky, "The role of conspiracy mentality in denial of science and susceptibility to viral deception about science," Politics and the Life Sciences, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 193-209, 2019.
[27] G. Evans, A. Heath, and M. Lalljee, "Measuring left-right and libertarian-authoritarian values in the British electorate," British Journal of Sociology, pp. 93-112, 1996.
[28] World Health Organization. "The determinants of vaccine hesitancy: Sample survey questions." https://www.who.int/immunization/sage/meetings/2013/april/4_survey_questionsRevised.pdf (accessed 20/07/2020)
[29] A. Siani, M. Driscoll, T.-M. Hurst, T. Coker, A. G. Grantham, and A. Bunet, "Investigating the determinants of vaccine hesitancy within undergraduate students' social sphere," Journal of Public Health, pp. 1-9, 2021, doi: 10.1007/s10389-021-01538-6.
[30] T. J. VanderWeele and M. B. Mathur, "Some desirable properties of the Bonferroni correction: is the Bonferroni correction really so bad?," American journal of epidemiology, vol. 188, no. 3, pp. 617-618, 2019.
[31] J. Kruger and D. Dunning. (1999) Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. [Periodical]. 1121.
[32] M. Motta, T. Callaghan, and S. Sylvester, "Knowing less but presuming more: Dunning-Kruger effects and the endorsement of anti-vaccine policy attitudes," Social Science & Medicine, Article vol. 211, pp. 274-281, 08/01/August 2018 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.06.032.
[33] F. Hendriks and D. Kienhues, "2. Science understanding between scientific literacy and trust: contributions from psychological and educational research," in Science communication: De Gruyter Mouton, 2019, pp. 29-50.
[34] R. Bromme, D. Kienhues, and T. Porsch, "Who knows what and who can we believe? Epistemological beliefs are beliefs about knowledge (mostly) to be attained from others," 2010.
[35] C. Sanchez and D. Dunning, "Overconfidence among beginners: Is a little learning a dangerous thing?," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 114, no. 1, p. 10, 2018.
[36] J. Brennan, "A libertarian case for mandatory vaccination," Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 37-43, 2018.
[37] M. R. Joslyn and S. M. Sylvester, "The Determinants and Consequences of Accurate Beliefs About Childhood Vaccinations," (in English), American Politics Research, Article vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 628-649, 05 / 01 / 2019, doi: 10.1177/1532673X17745342.
[38] M. Lamot, M. T. Krajnc, and A. Kirbiš, "Demographic And Socioeconomic Characteristics, Health Status And Political Orientation As Predictors Of Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among The Slovenian Public", vol. 36, no. 94/95, pp. 55-73, 2020.
[39] D. Allington, S. McAndrew, V. L. Moxham-Hall, and B. Duffy, "Media usage predicts intention to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 in the US and the UK," Vaccine, vol. 39, no. 18, pp. 2595-2603, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.02.054.
[40] J. K. Ward, C. Alleaume, and P. Peretti-Watel, "The French public's attitudes to a future COVID-19 vaccine: The politicization of a public health issue," Great Britain, 2020 2020: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.
[41] A. Arora, A. K. Jha, P. Alat, and S. S. Das, "Understanding coronaphobia," (in English), Asian Journal of Psychiatry, Article vol. 54, 12 / 01 / 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102384.
[42] C. M. Coelho, P. Suttiwan, N. Arato , and A. N. Zsido, "On the Nature of Fear and Anxiety Triggered by COVID-19," Frontiers in Psychology, article vol. 11, 11/01/ 2020, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.581314.
[43] G. Mertens, S. Duijndam, L. Gerritsen, E. Salemink, and I. M. Engelhard, "Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020," (in English), Journal of Anxiety Disorders, Article vol. 74, 08 / 01 / 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102258.
[44] G. Delanty, "Six political philosophies in search of a virus: Critical perspectives on the coronavirus pandemic," LEQS Paper, vol. 156, 2020.
[45] R. Robillard et al., "Social, financial and psychological stress during an emerging pandemic: observations from a population survey in the acute phase of COVID-19," BMJ open, vol. 10, no. 12, p. e043805, 2020, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043805.
[46] A. Gollwitzer et al., "Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature human behaviour, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 1186-1197, 2020.