Institutional trust is a distinct construct related to vaccine hesitancy and refusal

Institutional trust is a distinct construct related to vaccine hesitancy and refusal

Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, social and historical phenomena, requiring multidisciplinary approaches to its study and intervention. Past research has brought to light instances of both interpersonal and institutional trust playing an important rol...

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Published in:BMC public health Vol. 23; no. 1; p. 2481
Main Authors: Krastev, Sekoul, Krajden, Oren, Vang, Zoua M, Juárez, Fernanda Pérez-Gay, Solomonova, Elizaveta, Goldenberg, Maya J, Weinstock, Daniel, Smith, Maxwell J, Dervis, Esme, Pilat, Dan, Gold, Ian
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 12-12-2023
BioMed Central
BMC
Subjects:
Attitudes
Communication
Conspiracy
Conspiracy theories
COVID-19
COVID-19 vaccines
Decision making
Health behavior
Health communication
Human papillomavirus
Immunization
Institutional trust
Measles
Mumps
Pandemics
Parents & parenting
Public health
Rubella
Social exclusion
Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccines
Canada
COVID-19
Global health
Vaccine hesitancy
Institutional trust
Conspiracy theories
Vaccine uptake
Health communication
Public health
Public trust in science
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Summary:Vaccine hesitancy is driven by a heterogeneous and changing set of psychological, social and historical phenomena, requiring multidisciplinary approaches to its study and intervention. Past research has brought to light instances of both interpersonal and institutional trust playing an important role in vaccine uptake. However, no comprehensive study to date has specifically assessed the relative importance of these two categories of trust as they relate to vaccine behaviors and attitudes. In this paper, we examine the relationship between interpersonal and institutional trust and four measures related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and one measure related to general vaccine hesitancy. We hypothesize that, across measures, individuals with vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors have lower trust-especially in institutions-than those who are not hesitant. We test this hypothesis in a sample of 1541 Canadians. A deficit in both interpersonal and institutional trust was associated with higher levels of vaccine hesitant attitudes and behaviors. However, institutional trust was significantly lower than interpersonal trust in those with high hesitancy scores, suggesting that the two types of trust can be thought of as distinct constructs in the context of vaccine hesitancy. Based on our findings, we suggest that diminished institutional trust plays a crucial role in vaccine hesitancy. We propose that this may contribute to a tendency to instead place trust in interpersonally propagated belief systems, which may be more strongly misaligned with mainstream evidence and thus support vaccine hesitancy attitudes. We offer strategies rooted in these observations for creating public health messages designed to enhance vaccine uptake.
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ISSN:1471-2458
1471-2458
DOI:10.1186/s12889-023-17345-5