How conspiracy theories could harm vaccine takeup

Conspiracy theories and misinformation fuel mistrust in vaccines and could push levels that potential COVID-19 vaccines are taken in the United States and Britain below the rates needed to protect communities against the disease, a study found on Thursday.

The study of 8000 people in the two countries found that fewer people would “definitely” take a COVID-19 vaccine than the 55 per cent of the population scientists estimate is needed to provide so-called “herd immunity”.

“Vaccines only work if people take them. Misinformation plays into existing anxieties and uncertainty around new (COVID)vaccines, as well as the new platforms that are being used to develop them,” said Heidi Larson, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who co-led the study.

In the misinformation study, 3000 respondents in each country were exposed between June and August to widely circulating misinformation on social media about a COVID-19 vaccine. The remaining 1000 in each country, acting as a control group, were shown factual information about COVID-19 vaccines.

Before being exposed to misinformation, 54 per cent of those in the UK said they would “definitely” accept a vaccine, as did 41.2 per cent in the United States. But after being shown the online misinformation, that number fell by 6.4 percentage points in the UK group, and by 2.4 percentage points in the United States.

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from The Australian Financial Review can be found here ***