COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among college students in South Carolina: do information sources and trust in information matter?

Abstract

Background

For college students who are exposed to multimedia, the sources of COVID-19 vaccine information and their trust in these sources may play a role in shaping the vaccine acceptance spectrum (refusal, hesitancy, and acceptance).

Methods

Based on an online survey among 1,062 college students in South Carolina, we investigated vaccine information sources among college students and examined how COVID-19 vaccine acceptance was associated with information source and trust level in each source.

Results

The top three sources of COVID-19 vaccine information were health agencies, mass media, and personal social networks. Trust in mass media, health agencies, scientists, and pharmaceutical companies was negatively associated with vaccine refusal. Trust in government and scientists was negatively associated with vaccine hesitancy.

Discussion

Our findings highlight the importance of restoring trust in government, healthcare system, scientists, and pharmaceutical industries in the COVID-19 era.

Keywords:

• College students
• COVID-19
• health and science communication
• trust
• vaccine acceptance

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of University of South Carolina.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Number of NIH R01MH0112376-3S1 and R01AI127203-4S1.The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.