Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Sep 1:36:102390.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102390. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Belief in vaccine myths and vaccine uptake in Utah during the COVID-19 pandemic

Olusola A Omisakin  1 , Jessica D Ulrich-Schad  2 , Aaron Hunt  3 , Jennifer E Givens  2 , Mitchell Beacham  2
Affiliations

Belief in vaccine myths and vaccine uptake in Utah during the COVID-19 pandemic

Olusola A Omisakin et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

Introduction: Since its emergence in December 2019, COVID-19 has caused millions of deaths worldwide. While vaccines are largely available in most places, including the United States (U.S.), vaccine uptake is lower than is desirable from a public health perspective.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to examine belief in vaccine myths, including what individual and place characteristics underpin such beliefs, and uptake of vaccines - as well as the role of belief in myths in obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine.

Methods: We use weighted survey data from an online panel of 529 Utah adult residents.

Results: Sixty-nine percent of our sample was fully vaccinated at the time of taking the survey. We find that belief in vaccine myths varies among Utahns, with the highest percentage seeing the vaccines as unsafe because of their rapid development. Those who are older, are more religious (including members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), have less formal education, and are more conservative were more likely to have medium and/or higher levels of belief in vaccine myths. We find that belief in vaccine myths is associated with lower COVID-19 vaccine uptake, even when controlling for other factors.

Conclusion: Understanding what drives vaccination uptake, including the role of belief in emerging vaccine myths, is important for public health measures in this and future outbreaks.

Keywords: Beliefs; COVID-19; Utah; Vaccine myths; Vaccine uptake.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentage of respondents (Utah adults) who agreed or strongly agreed with statements about COVID-19 vaccine myths (n = 540).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Alberty, E., 2021. Here’s what happened to Utah’s vaccination rates after LDS Church leaders told members to get their shots. Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/08/26/heres-what-happened-utahs.
    1. Auxier, B., Anderson, M., 2021. Social Media Use in 2021. Pew Research Center. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021.
    1. Brennen, J. S., Simon, F., Howard, P. N., & Nielsen, R. K., 2020. Types, sources, and claims of COVID-19 misinformation. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covi....
    1. Burki, T., 2020. The online anti-vaccine movement in the age of COVID-19. The Lancet Digital Health, 2(10), e504–e505. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023. COVID Data Tracker Weekly Review. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html.

LinkOut - more resources