Public Perceptions of the Media Channels and Human Sources of Information about the COVID-19 Vaccine in Malawi

ABSTRACT

This study assessed public perceptions of the accuracy and credibility of information about the COVID-19 vaccine transmitted by traditional media, social media and human sources, and how this information related to attitudes towards the vaccine. Theoretically, the study explored the concepts of media affordances and media literacy, broadly defined. The results showed that participants obtained information from both traditional and social media; however, participants were more likely to trust the accuracy and credibility of information they got from traditional media. Participants were unlikely to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of information they got from social media rather than because of information they got from traditional media. Participants were more likely to get vaccinated based on information they got from medical doctors and vaccine experts rather than based on information they got from government officials and politicians. Moreover, participants had concerns about intrinsic aspects of the vaccine, such as its effectiveness and the harm it could possibly cause to their bodies. Participants also underestimated their risk of getting very sick if they did not get the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants clearly had sufficient media and digital literacy skills to enable them to navigate both traditional and social media, and sufficient information literacy to, at least, question the credibility of the information they were getting from social media; nevertheless, information from social media induced vaccine hesitancy, meaning participants still lacked the information literacy to reject the hesitancy-inducing social media information and go get vaccinated.

KEYWORDS:

• Malawi
• COVID-19
• vaccine
• sources
• media
• credibility
• literacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).