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. 2025 Feb 25;25(1):770.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21988-x.

Trust in official information as a key predictor of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: evidence from a Czech longitudinal survey study

Dominika Grygarová  1   2 , Jiří Kožený  3 , Lýdie Tišanská  4 , Marek Havlík  5 , Jiří Horáček  5   3
Affiliations

Trust in official information as a key predictor of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: evidence from a Czech longitudinal survey study

Dominika Grygarová et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (CVH) has become a critical public health issue, with attitudes toward vaccines emerging as a broader social issue. Public debates surrounding vaccines have expanded beyond health considerations to include issues of trust, misinformation, and societal values, making CVH a complex challenge that requires multifaceted solutions. Analyzing the various determinants of CVH is crucial for developing targeted strategies to improve vaccine acceptance in specific countries and to better prepare for future public health crises. However, no study to date has evaluated the determinants of CVH in a representative sample of the Czech population.

Methods: A multiple hierarchical logistic regression was used to analyze the associations between various sociodemographic, trust and attitudinal factors with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance (CVA). The analysis utilized survey data from a representative longitudinal sample of the Czech population (N = 1,407).

Results: After controlling for all other factors, trust in official statements from the Ministry of Health was the strongest predictor of CVA, followed by prior positive attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination (prior to vaccine availability) and older age. Lower trust in COVID-19 misinformation also predicted CVA, while lower interest in COVID-19 media content was associated with CVA. Higher income initially predicted CVA but lost statistical significance after controlling for other variables. Interestingly, education did not play a role in CVA.

Conclusion: CVH was primarily driven by distrust in government-provided information. Notably, vaccine refusers demonstrated a higher motivation to seek information on the topic, offering a promising opportunity for health policy interventions. Our findings suggest that strategies to reduce CVH should prioritize building trust in state institutions and effectively combating misinformation.

Keywords: COVID-19; Misinformation; Trust in institutions; Vaccine acceptance; Vaccine hesitancy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The procedure was in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of National Institute of Mental Health (CZ) (no. 181/21). All participants provided digital informed consent. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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