November 12, 2020

two studies on COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence

Two researchers from the Vaccine Confidence Project reported on their studies relating to public confidence in taking a future COVID-19 vaccine.

The first paper, “Parents’ and guardians’ views on the acceptability of a future COVID-19 vaccine: A multi-methods study in England”, from Pauline Paterson and her team was published in Vaccine on the 10 November. The study involved taking survey responses from 1252 parents and guardians (aged 16+ years) who reported living in England with a child aged 18 months, and interviewing 19 of these survey respondents between April and May 2020 to find out the parent’s and guardians’ views on a future COVID-19 vaccine.

In another study, a preprint to published today, Heidi Larson and her team asked 8,000 people in the UK and US about their willingness to accept a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The research team aimed to quantify the impact of online misinformation by assessing whether people’s attitudes changed after being exposed to misinformation.  The study also looked at whether it is possible to identify socio-economic groups that are most susceptible to online misinformation and at-risk of non-vaccination. 

Journalists dialled in to this briefing to hear the authors describe their findings and answer any questions.

Speakers included:

Prof Pauline Paterson, Co-Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project, and Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Prof Heidi Larson, Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project, and Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine