Social communication pathways to COVID-19 vaccine side-effect expectations and experience.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Negative beliefs about medication and vaccine side-effects can spread rapidly through social communication. This has been recently documented with the potential side-effects from the COVID-19 vaccines. We tested if pre-vaccination social communications about side-effects from personal acquaintances, news reports, and social media predict post-vaccination side-effect experiences. Further, as previous research suggests that side-effects can be exacerbated by negative expectations, we assessed if personal expectations mediate the relationships between social communication and side-effect experience.

Method

In a prospective longitudinal survey (N = 551), COVID-19 vaccine side-effect information from three sources-social media posts, news reports, and first-hand account

SUBMITTER: Clemens KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9646444 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature