Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34696159›Full record

ArticleVaccines2021

Is It All a Conspiracy? Conspiracy Theories and People's Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccination.

Zheng Yang, Xi Luo, Hepeng Jia

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Vaccines, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
36citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

36 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Vaccination Readiness and Conspiracy Beliefs to Virus-Based Diseases: A Validation Study.The Canadian journal of infectious diseases & medical microbiology = Journal canadien des maladies infectieuses et de la microbiologie medicale · 2026
    Article
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  14. The Impact of COVID-Related Restrictions on the Mental Health of Students.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Zheng YangSchool of Communication, Soochow University, Suzhou 215127, China.ORCID 0000-0002-2037-4689
Xi LuoSchool of Communication, Soochow University, Suzhou 215127, China.
Hepeng JiaSchool of Communication, Soochow University, Suzhou 215127, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8681-394X

Funding

National Social Science Foundation of China 21AZD013
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A large body of research has found that people's beliefs in conspiracy theories about infectious diseases negatively impacts their health behaviors concerning vaccination. Conspiracy belief-based vaccination hesitancy has become more rampant after the global outbreak of COVID-19. However, some important questions remain unanswered. For instance, do different versions of conspiracy theories-particularly conspiracy theories about the origin of the epidemic (e.g., that the SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a Wuhan virology laboratory or that the virus was of foreign origin) and the general theories about vaccine conspiracies (e.g., pharmaceutical companies covered up the danger of vaccines or people are being deceived about the effectiveness of vaccines)-have the same effect on vaccination intentions? Through a national survey adopting quota sampling in China, the current study tested the relationship between people's conspiracy beliefs and their intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. The findings show that people's embrace of conspiracy theories did indeed affect their intention to take COVID-19 shots. However, only conspiracy theories related to vaccines had a significant impact, while belief in more general theories about COVID-19 did not significantly affect vaccination intentions. People's knowledge of vaccines (vaccine literacy) played an important role in this relationship. People with lower beliefs in vaccines conspiracy theories and higher levels of vaccine literacy were more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Indexed as

conspiracy theoriesconstrual level theoryCOVID-19scientific literacyvaccinationvaccine literacy

Identifiers

PMID34696159
PMCPMC8540771

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.