Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Romania. The role of trust and susceptibility to misleading narratives

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, public conversation on vaccination issues has gained more and more visibility. Vaccine hesitancy is documented as one of the main barriers to full inoculation of the population, a goal important for the containment of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and possibly, for ending the global health crisis prompted by COVID-19. In this context, it is important to study the public perception regarding vaccination against COVID-19. Such an investigation may provide insights into public’s response to calls to vaccination, as well as into the link between this response and other variables such as: trust in actors and institutions, trust in the media, level of education, media consumption patterns, and exposure to toxic or misleading narratives about vaccines and about the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, we study the predictors of vaccine acceptance in Romania by means of a national survey using an online panel, N=1006, representative for the online population of Romania aged 18 or higher, conducted on 13-26 October, 2020, by the national pollster QUESTIA. Results show a predictive model of people’s willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine, in which trust in the actors and institutions involved in the management of the crisis is the strongest predictor, followed by the belief in toxic or misleading narratives about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic, trust in media, and media consumption patterns. Thus, people trusting more actors and institutions involved in the management of the pandemic, trusting more the media in general, consuming more news about the coronavirus situation, and believing less in conspiracy theories are more willing to get vaccinated. Education is a moderator of the relationship between trust and the willingness to vaccinate (the effect being stronger for lower levels of education). This study sheds light on the predictors of the willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine, in an attempt to unveil recommendations for evidence-based strategies for public communication regarding the vaccination campaign. Furthermore, the results illustrate the importance of building trust in institutions (mass media included) for the successful immunization of the population against infectious diseases.