Fear around vaccination can increase vaccine hesitancy and lead to conspiracy beliefs being used to justify not vaccinating, a study at the University of Nottingham has shown.
Researchers conducted three experiments involving nearly 1,000 participants who were fearful of vaccinations and found that conspiracy beliefs are more likely to be adopted as a way to justify avoiding vaccines. This was contrary to their initial hypothesis that fear would simply increase incorrect beliefs.
The researchers highlight the importance of emotions in the decision to get vaccinated and suggest that public health campaigns targeting unvaccinated people should address the feeling of fear. Finding ways to reduce and manage fear could make people less likely to believe conspiracy theories and increase vaccine uptake.
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Published in Psychology and Health, the researchers said their findings can inform more effective public health messaging.
In the first two of the three studies (1a: n = 221) and 1b: n = 508), participants were exposed to either high fear or low fear about a fictional vaccine and asked to report their levels of vaccine hesitancy and their beliefs in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
In study 2, all participants were exposed to high fear before being asked to consider not getting vaccinated versus getting vaccinated against the fictional disease. Participants were given information about the disease and heard either a statement from an expert in support of the vaccine or a statement against the vaccine. Both groups were given consistent information about the vaccine apart from the differing expert comments. The researchers then analysed the participants’ reported vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and closeness to others who distrust official narratives.
Dr Dan Jolley, from the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, who led the study, said: ‘The whole issue of vaccine hesitancy is complex with many factors at play. We initially thought that fear would increase conspiracy beliefs, leading to people being less willing to receive a vaccine. When our results didn’t support this, we considered a different explanation and tested whether fear directly causes vaccine hesitancy and if conspiracy beliefs emerge as a way to justify avoiding vaccines.’
Fear of vaccines was found to directly reduce people’s intention to get vaccinated and led to the use of conspiracy theories to justify their choices.
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Dr Jolley added: ‘These findings highlight the crucial role of emotions, especially fear, in shaping attitudes toward vaccines and the emergence of conspiracy beliefs. Understanding this emotional component can help design more effective public health strategies to increase vaccine uptake.’
The findings show that public messaging to improve vaccine uptake should address fear, the emotional driver behind vaccine hesitancy. The team suggests that finding ways to reduce vaccination fear would result in fewer people believing in conspiracy theories. To directly address vaccine fear, the team suggests that public health campaigns should provide reassuring information about vaccine safety and efficacy alongside positive vaccination stories.
In addition, the researchers state the importance of developing ‘effective emotion management’ and suggest that helping people manage their fear of vaccines could be beneficial.
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Dr Jolley added, ‘Public health initiatives should focus on the emotional roots of vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy beliefs. This is likely to be effective in encouraging vaccination and safeguarding public health. Addressing fear, in particular, can reduce the tendency to justify vaccine avoidance with conspiracy theories.’
