ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MISINFORMATION ON VACCINE HESITANCY AND PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN THE COVID-19 ERA

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified vaccine hesitancy, particularly fueled by the spread of misinformation on social media. This study explores the impact of misinformation on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and evaluates the effectiveness of public health communication strategies. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 1,200 completed responses collected via a stratified random sampling method based on national census quotas for age, gender, and education. We analyzed participants' exposure to misinformation, trust in information sources, and vaccine attitudes.

Logistic regression results confirm that exposure to misinformation significantly reduces vaccine acceptance (odds ratio: 0.65, ). Trust in healthcare professionals emerged as the strongest factor promoting vaccine uptake (odds ratio: 2.50, ), while trust in social media was notably low. The study further revealed that political affiliation () and age () significantly influence vaccine hesitancy. Communication strategies involving trusted healthcare professionals were deemed most effective, whereas social media fact-checking efforts were perceived as insufficient.

These findings suggest that addressing vaccine hesitancy requires tailored public health messaging that engages trusted messengers and strengthens fact-checking mechanisms on digital platforms. Future public health crises would benefit from improved digital literacy and non-politicized communication strategies to reduce misinformation's influence on public behavior.