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. 2023 Aug:14:100299.
doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2023.100299. Epub 2023 Apr 6.

Trust and vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-national analysis

Will Jennings  1 , Viktor Valgarðsson  1 , Lawrence McKay  1 , Gerry Stoker  1 , Eduardo Mello  2 , Hasan Muhammad Baniamin  3
Affiliations

Trust and vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-national analysis

Will Jennings et al. Vaccine X. 2023 Aug.

Abstract

Previous studies of vaccine hesitancy in the context of COVID-19 have reported mixed results in terms of the role played by political and institutional trust. This study addresses this ambiguity with a global analysis of the relationship between trust and vaccine hesitancy, disentangling the effects of generalized trust orientations, trust in specific institutions and conspiracy mentality. It first draws upon a cross-national survey of 113 countries to demonstrate that trust in government is a predictor of vaccine hesitancy across global regions. It further draws on original surveys fielded in seven countries (France, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Croatia, Brazil, India), which deploy a diverse range of measures, to disentangle the individual-level predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Our findings confirm the robust effects of trust in government across countries, but when including other trust measures in the same models, the most robust effects are those of trust in health institutions and conspiracy mentality. Weaker associations are observed for right-wing ideology and online political engagement, while the consumption of traditional media tends to predict the willingness of individuals to be vaccinated.

Keywords: COVID-19; Misinformation; Trust; Vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Will Jennings reports financial support was provided by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Will Jennings reports financial support was provided by Research England QR Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Trust in government vs self-reported vaccine intentions (aggregate-level), Wellcome Global Monitor. Countries denoted by Alpha-2 ISO codes, see: https://www.iban.com/country-codes.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bivariate regression of trust in government on self-reported vaccine willingness, odds ratios (individual-level, by country). Countries denoted by Alpha-3 ISO codes, see: https://www.iban.com/country-codes.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Marginal predictions of vaccine intention by levels of trust in government in the 2020 Wellcome Global Monitor survey, from multi-level regression models controlling for individuals’ demographics and countries’ HDI.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Bivariate logistic regression of vaccine willingness, odds ratios.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Multivariate block models of vaccine willingness, odds ratios.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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