Acceptance of a Covid-19 vaccine is associated with ability to detect fake news and health literacy

Abstract

Background: During the Covid-19 pandemic fake news has been circulating impacting on the general population's opinion about a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2. Health literacy measures the capacity of navigating health information. Methods: We used data from a prospective national online cohort of 1647 participants. Descriptive statistics, Chi2 and ANOVA independence tests and two multivariable multinomial regression models were performed. Interactions between each variable were tested. Results: Detection of fake news and health literacy scores were associated with intention to get vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (p < 0.01). The risk of being "anti-vaccination"or "hesitant", rather than "pro-vaccination", was higher among individuals reporting bad detection of fake news, respectively OR = 1.93 (95%CI = [1.30;2.87]) and OR = 1.80 (95%CI = [1.29;2.52]). The risk of being in "hesitant", rather than "pro-vaccination"was higher among individuals having a bad health literacy score (OR = 1.44; 95%CI = [1.04;2.00]). No interaction was found between detection of fake news and health literacy. Conclusions: To promote acceptance of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, it is recommended to increase individuals' ability to detect fake news and health literacy through education and communication programs.