Taubert Frederike, Schmid Philipp, Holford Dawn, Verger Pierre, Fasce Angelo, Karlsson Linda C, Soveri Anna, Lewandowsky Stephan, Betsch Cornelia
Institute for Planetary Health Behavior, Health Communication, University of Erfurt, Nordhäuser Straße 63, 99089 Erfurt, Germany.
Implementation Research, Health Communication Working Group, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Hamburg, Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany.
Vaccine X. 2024 Oct 5;20:100560. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2024.100560. eCollection 2024 Oct.
Vaccine hesitancy has been identified as one of the top ten threats to global health by the World Health Organization (WHO). The belief in conspiracy narratives is repeatedly discussed as a major driver of vaccine hesitancy among the general population. However, there is a lack of research investigating the role of the belief in conspiracy narratives in vaccination decisions and recommendation behaviours of physicians. This is particularly relevant as physicians are one of the major and trusted sources of information for patients' vaccination decisions. This study therefore investigated the association between believing in COVID-19-related conspiracy narratives and physicians' own COVID-19 vaccination status and their recommendation behavior for COVID-19 and other vaccines (e.g., HPV or flu). In a cross-sectional survey among German physicians (N = 602, April 2022) two conspiracy narratives were assessed, stating that the coronavirus is a hoax or that it is human-made. Additional control variables included trust in health institutions, the rejection of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), the 5C psychological antecedents of vaccination (confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility) and demographic variables. Hierarchical regressions indicated that greater belief in the conspiracy narrative claiming that the coronavirus is a hoax was associated with lower COVID-19 vaccination uptake and fewer COVID-19 vaccination recommendations among physicians. The results for recommendation behavior remain robust even when controlling for other variables. Contrary to our assumption, believing that the coronavirus is human-made was not related to vaccination status nor vaccine recommendation behavior. In conclusion, believing in conspiracy narratives that question the existence and thus also the danger of the virus is an important independent predictor of vaccine hesitancy among physicians that should be addressed in future public health interventions.
疫苗犹豫已被世界卫生组织（WHO）确定为全球健康面临的十大威胁之一。对阴谋论的笃信被反复讨论为普通人群中疫苗犹豫的主要驱动因素。然而，缺乏研究调查阴谋论在医生疫苗接种决策和推荐行为中所起的作用。这一点尤为重要，因为医生是患者疫苗接种决策的主要且值得信赖的信息来源之一。因此，本研究调查了相信与新冠病毒相关的阴谋论与医生自身的新冠疫苗接种状况以及他们对新冠疫苗和其他疫苗（如人乳头瘤病毒疫苗或流感疫苗）的推荐行为之间的关联。在一项针对德国医生的横断面调查（N = 602，2022年4月）中，评估了两种阴谋论，即声称新冠病毒是骗局或认为它是人造的。其他控制变量包括对卫生机构的信任、对补充和替代医学（CAM）的排斥、疫苗接种的5C心理前因（信心、自满、限制、算计和集体责任）以及人口统计学变量。分层回归表明，更相信声称新冠病毒是骗局的阴谋论与医生较低的新冠疫苗接种率以及较少的新冠疫苗接种推荐相关。即使在控制其他变量时，推荐行为的结果仍然稳健。与我们的假设相反，认为新冠病毒是人造的与疫苗接种状况及疫苗推荐行为均无关。总之，相信质疑病毒存在进而质疑其危险性的阴谋论是医生中疫苗犹豫的一个重要独立预测因素，应在未来的公共卫生干预中加以解决。
