The Relation of Scientific Literacy, Vaccine Literacy, and Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs with the Intention to Get Vaccinated Against COVID-19

Nastojanja da se pandemija bolesti COVID-19 privede kraju procjepljivanjem na globalnoj razini ugrožava oklijevanje prema cijepljenju koje je potencirano širenjem teorija zavjere i preobiljem dostupnih informacija. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost znanstvene pismenosti, pismenosti o cjepivu i vjerovanja u teorije zavjere o cjepivu s namjerom cijepljenja protiv bolesti COVID-19 u Republici Hrvatskoj. Istraživanje je provedeno putem online upitnika, a sudjelovalo je N = 584 osoba raspona dobi od 17 do 86 godina, od čega 74.6% žena. Rezultati su pokazali da su osobe koje se namjeravaju cijepiti protiv bolesti COVID-19 pismenije o cjepivu i manje vjeruju u teorije zavjere o cjepivu, ali da se po znanstvenoj pismenosti ne razlikuju od osoba koje se ne namjeravaju cijepiti. Osobe koje smatraju da je virus SARS-CoV-2 nastao prirodnim putem znanstveno su pismenije i pismenije o cjepivu te manje vjeruju u teorije zavjere od osoba koje vjeruju u neko drugo porijeklo virusa ili vjeruju da se njime manipulira. Znanstvena pismenost i pismenost o cjepivu u ovom istraživanju međusobno nisko koreliraju, a obje su varijable umjereno negativno povezane s vjerovanjem u teorije zavjere o cjepivu. Vjerojatnost namjere cijepljenja protiv bolesti COVID-19 povećava viša dob, a smanjuje više vjerovanje u teorije zavjere i viša znanstvena pismenost. Unatoč tome što manje od polovice uzorka vjeruje da je virus SARS-CoV-2 nastao prirodno i da se njime ne manipulira, gotovo tri četvrtine se namjerava cijepiti.Efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic by vaccinating on a global level are endangered by vaccine hesitancy, which is intensified by the spread of conspiracy theories and an overload of available information. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of scientific literacy, vaccine literacy and vaccine conspiracy beliefs with the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Republic of Croatia. The study was conducted via an online questionnaire and included N = 584 participants aged from 17 to 86 years, 74.6% of which were women. Results show that those who intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are more vaccine literate and less prone to vaccine conspiracy beliefs, but do not differ in scientific literacy from those who do not intend to get vaccinated. Those who believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus to be of natural origin are more science and vaccine literate and less prone to vaccine conspiracy beliefs than those who do not believe the virus came about naturally or believe it is being manipulated with. Scientific and vaccine literacy are in a small positive correlation and both are in a moderate negative correlation with vaccine conspiracy beliefs. Higher age increases the odds of intending to get vaccinated against COVID-19, while higher vaccine conspiracy beliefs and higher scientific literacy decrease them. Despite less than half of the sample believing the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated naturally and is not being manipulated with, almost three quarters intend to get vaccinated