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Misconceptions about COVID-19 vaccine among adults in Saudi Arabia and their associated factor

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May 09, 2022 version files 104.61 KB

Abstract

It is of the utmost importance for the elements that influence public compliance to the COVID-19 vaccine to be assessed, including misconceptions, rumors, and conspiracy theories. Hence our study aimed to estimate the distribution of the most common misconceptions and their predictors in Saudi Arabia. We distributed an online questionnaire to participants who were 18 years or older at the time of the survey, which included four sections: demographic characteristics of participants, level of their education, their sources of information, and perception of participants regarding eleven of the most common misconceptions in the community.

An evaluation of the relationships between different predictors and acceptance of these misconceptions was conducted using ordinal logistic regression; the most widely accepted misconception was that the vaccine has serious side effects, with 34.8% of participants reporting this.

Accepting this misinformation Factors that were significantly associated with acceptance or refusal of misconceptions were:

Gender, as females in this survey significantly accept rumors more than males (p<0.001);

Educational level, especially secondary school, was associated with a significant decrease in acceptance of misconceptions (p=0.001);

Information source. 60.5% of participants use social media as their primary source of information, and it was also a significant positive predictor of acceptance of misconceptions (p=0.034).

It is of utmost importance to increase assurance in the safety of the vaccine, as it was the most accepted misconception, and to address the elements that affect believing rumors among the population.