People who trust formal information source more likely to get COVID-19 jab

Among middle-aged and older adults, trust in formal sources of vaccine information, such as government agencies, is a strong predictor of willingness to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to a recent Singapore study.

Surprisingly, trust in informal sources, such as friends and social networking sites, does not appear to influence vaccination status in this population.

“Because trust in formal sources of information influences vaccination status, authorities should build trust in such sources to encourage vaccination against COVID-19. However, health communication strategies with middle-aged and older adults who have low levels of trust in the formal sources may be more effective if authorities leveraged alternative channels such as informal sources, including the social networks of such individuals,” the researchers said.

The study used data from the Singapore Life Panel (SLP), a population-representative monthly survey of individuals aged 56–75 years (n=5,677, mean age 64.27 years, 52.51 percent women). Participants who had not been vaccinated due to medical reasons (ie, anaphylaxis) rather than lack of willingness were deemed ineligible for inclusion.

SLP responses found that most participants trusted government sources regarding COVID-19 information (92.32 percent). Similarly, there was a very high degree of trust for local television (93.63 percent), local radio (93.14 percent), and family (92.04 percent) as sources of information. [Soc Sci Med 2022;296:114767]

Trust in friends (88.14 percent) and social media (60.63 percent) were likewise high but were noticeably lower.

Logistic regression analysis showed that respondents who trust formal sources (government, television, and radio) were nearly 30 percent more likely to have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (odds ratio, 1.28; p<0.001). The same was true for those with better subjective health status (OR, 1.26; p<0.001).

In contrast, neither trust in informal sources overall (OR, 0.92) nor trust in social media specifically (OR, 0.93) was significantly correlated with vaccination status. Of note, women (OR, 0.82; p<0.05) and those of Indian ethnicity (OR, 0.66; p<0.05) were significantly less likely to have received at least one vaccine dose at the time of the survey.

Latent class analysis then identified four general typologies of trust patterns: “pro-formal selective,” comprising participants who trusted only formal sources (group 1); “broad trust,” including those who were likely to trust all sources except for social media (group 2); “broad distrust,” such as those who were unlikely to trust any source (group 3); and “pro-informal selective,” including respondents who were partial to informal sources of information (group 4).

Comparing across typologies revealed that participants in group 1 were most likely to have been vaccinated with one dose, followed by those in group 2. In comparison, those in groups 3 and 4 tended to avoid vaccination.

“We find that while trust in formal sources of information on its own positively predicts vaccination status, respondents with high trust in formal sources of information while at the same time having lower levels of trust in informal sources of information are more likely to have been vaccinated as compared to respondents who had high levels of trust in both formal and informal sources of information,” the researchers said.

“While the factors behind vaccine hesitancy remain complex, this paper illustrates a need for targeted interventions with regard to the effective communication of information regarding COVID-19 vaccines to specific groups of older adults,” they added.