The impact of nontransparent health communication during the COVID-19 pandemic on vaccine-hesitant people's perception of vaccines.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although transparency is crucial for building public trust, public health communication during the COVID-19 pandemic was often nontransparent.

Methods

In a cross-sectional online study with COVID-19 vaccine-hesitant German residents (N = 763), we explored the impact of COVID-19 public health communication on the attitudes of vaccine-hesitant individuals toward vaccines as well as their perceptions of incomprehensible and incomplete information. We also investigated whether specific formats of public health messaging were perceived as more trustworthy.

Results

Of the 763 participants, 90 (11.8%) said they had become more open-minded toward vaccines in general, 408 (53.5%) reported no change, and 265 (34.7%) said they had become more skeptical as a res

SUBMITTER: Wegwarth O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10800610 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature