Songo John, Whitehead Hannah S, Phiri Khumbo, Kalande Pericles, Lungu Eric, Phiri Sam, van Oosterhout Joep, Moses Agnes, Hoffman Risa M, Moucheraud Corrina
Partners in Hope, Lilongwe, Malawi.
University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Commun Med (Lond). 2025 Jun 21;5(1):244. doi: 10.1038/s43856-025-00864-0.
The information environment may be an important determinant of vaccination and other health behaviors including in low-income countries.
We administered a survey to 895 Malawian adults, asking about people's COVID-19 vaccination history and their exposure to information (information sources and tone of this information) and misinformation (exposure to and belief in conspiracy theories) about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Just under half (43%) of respondents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Respondents heard about the COVID-19 vaccine from a median of 7 sources, most commonly from friends and neighbors, health care workers, and radio (each reported by >90%). Social media are the least positively- or neutrally-framed sources of information; and traditional medicine practitioners are the most common negatively-framed source of information. There is less information access among women, rural residents, and people with lower educational attainment. Many people hear conspiracy theories but say that they do not believe them. Hearing more COVID-19 vaccine information is positively associated with COVID-19 vaccination (aOR 1.09, 95% CI [1.03-1.15]), while believing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation is negatively associated (aOR 0.78, 95% CI [0.68-0.89]).
Vaccination programs should communicate through multiple information sources and find ways to reach groups with less information exposure.
信息环境可能是包括低收入国家在内的疫苗接种及其他健康行为的重要决定因素。
我们对895名马拉维成年人进行了一项调查，询问他们的新冠疫苗接种史、接触信息（信息来源及该信息的基调）以及关于新冠疫苗的错误信息（接触及相信阴谋论的情况）。
略低于半数（43%）的受访者至少接种了一剂新冠疫苗。受访者平均从7个来源听说过新冠疫苗，最常见的是朋友和邻居、医护人员以及广播（各来源的报告率均>90%）。社交媒体是信息正面或中性框架最少的来源；而传统医学从业者是负面框架最常见的来源。女性、农村居民以及受教育程度较低者获取的信息较少。许多人听说过阴谋论，但表示不相信。更多地接触新冠疫苗信息与新冠疫苗接种呈正相关（调整后比值比为1.09，95%置信区间为[1.03 - 1.15]），而相信新冠疫苗错误信息则呈负相关（调整后比值比为0.78，95%置信区间为[0.68 - 0.89]）。
疫苗接种项目应通过多种信息来源进行沟通，并设法覆盖信息接触较少的群体。
