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ABSTRACT
This study examines how COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is influenced by institutional trust, conspiracy theory beliefs, and political and religious values using novel data from the 2022 Turkish COVID-19 Values Study (TCVS). We find that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is widespread in Turkey. While 7.75% of the participants did not receive any COVID-19 vaccination, 4.51% received only one dose. Moreover, 16.09% of the population does not intend to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the future, whereas another 35.14% show indecision on this topic. Our findings demonstrate that greater belief in conspiracy theories, higher distrust in political and health institutions, and lower religiosity lead to greater COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Turkey. The results of our study imply that the national government and local municipalities need to readopt vaccine outreach efforts and disseminate trusted vaccination information in Turkey.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
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2 WHO, “Ten Threats.”
3 CDC, “COVID Data Tracker.”
4 T.C. Ministry of Health, “Covid-19 Aşısı Bilgilendirme Platformu.”
5 Lazarus et al., “A Survey,” 367.
6 Levin et al., “Waning Immune.”
7 CDC, “Stay Up to Date,” and WHO, “COVID-19 Vaccines Advice.”
8 European Commission, “COVID-19.”
9 BBC News Türkçe, “Sağlık Bakanı Koca.”
10 Levin and Bradshaw, “Determinants,” and Thunström et al., “Hesitancy.”
11 Orlandi, Febo, and Perdichizzi, “The Role”; Fiske et al., “The COVID-19 Vaccine”; and Verger et al., “Attitudes.”
12 Sonmezer et al., “Knowledge,” and Salali and Uysal, “COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.”
13 Brezzi et al., “An updated,” 9–20.
14 Hobson-West, “Understanding,” 280.
15 Yaqub et al, “Attitudes to Vaccination,” 6, and Taylor-Clark et al., “Confidence in Crisis,” 145.
16 Tan, Owuamalam and Sarma, “Improving.”
17 Bish et al., “Factors,” and Salmon et al., “Factors Associated with Refusal,” 473.
18 Fiske et al., “The COVID-19 Vaccine”; Verger et al., “Attitudes”; and Tan, Owuamalam and Sarma, “Improving.”
19 Akarsu et al., “While Studies.”
20 Ahmed et al., “COVID-19 and the 5G.”
21 Ullah et al., “Myths,” 95.
22 Jolley and Douglas, “The Effects,” and Pertwee, Simas, and Larson, “An Epidemic,” 457.
23 Pertwee, Simas, and Larson, “An Epidemic,” 457.
24 Natoli and Marques, “The Antidepressant Hoax,” 15–6.
25 Graeber, Schmidt-Petri and Schröder, “Attitudes on Voluntary.”
26 Levin and Bradshaw, “Determinants.”
27 Engin and Vezzoni, “Who's Skeptical of Vaccines,” 167.
28 Roberts et al., “To Vax or Not to.”
29 Park et al., “Political Ideologies.”
30 Kaba et al., “Social Norms.”
31 Dal and Tokdemir, “Social-Psychology,” 1459.
32 Orlandi, Febo, and Perdichizzi, “The Role of Religiosity.”
33 Trepanowski and Drążkowski, “Cross-National,” 2198.
34 Orlandi et al., “The Role of Religiosity.”
35 Trepanowski and Drążkowski, “Cross-National,” 2198.
36 Ullah et al., “Myths,” 95, and Kanozia and Arya, “Fake News, Religion.”
37 Karakaş et al., “COVID-19 Vaccine Rejection,” 77, and Dal and Tokdemir, “Social-Psychology,” 1471.
38 Kilic, Ustundag Ocal, and Uslukilic, “The Relationship,” 3384.
39 WHO, “Ten Threats,” 13.
40 KLİMİK, “COVİD-19’A Karşı.”
41 OECD, “OECD Guidelines.”
42 Barbieri et al., “Rural-Urban Disparities”; Kilic et al., “The Relationship,” 3387; Karakaş et al., “COVID-19 Vaccine Rejection,” 75; Willis et al., “Hesitant but Vaccinated,” 18; and Cascini et al., “Attitudes.”
43 Multiple imputation was also utilized to deal with the missing values in the data. Since both multiple imputation and list-wise deletion method yield the same results, we present the listwise deletion method results.
44 T.C. Ministry of Health, “COVID-19 Aşısı Ulusal Uygulama.”
45 T.C. Ministry of Interior, “Kademeli Normalleşme.”
46 T.C. Ministry of Health, “YouTuber’lardan.”
47 T.C. Ministry of Interior, “Bazı Faaliyetler.”
48 T.C. Ministry of Health, “Covid-19 Aşısı.”
49 HES code was a personal code referred to a national database and was aimed at tracking COVID-19 infection and exposure of each person. It was used as a tool to grant access to venues, businesses, and public institutions and transportation. See T.C. Ministry of Interior, “81 İl Valiliğine HES.”
50 T.C. Ministry of Interior, “81 İl Valiliğine PCR,” and T.C. Ministry of Interior, “81 İl Valiliğine Maske.”.
51 Koca, Fahrettin, “TBMM Genel Kurulu.”
52 See note 9.
53 Guidry et al., “Between Healthcare Practitioners.”
54 Imhoff and Lamberty, “A Bioweapon,” 1110.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Ceylan Engin
Ceylan Engin is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boğaziçi University. Her areas of interest include survey research, population health, and demography of gender and sexuality, with a specific focus on Turkey. She is the principal investigator of the Turkish COVID-19 Values Study (TCVS), in which she conducts survey-based research to investigate the changes in Turkey’s demographic and social fabric. She has published in journals such as Social Politics, Deviant Behavior, and Population Review.
S. Sena Akkoç
S. Sena Akkoç is an M.A. student in Sociology at Boğaziçi University. She is currently working on the Turkish COVID-19 Value Study (TCVS) project and writing her M.A. thesis on the predictors of COVID-19 conspiracy theories in Turkey. Her research interests are value studies, demography, and environmental sociology.