Distrustful Complacency and the COVID ‐19 Vaccine: How Concern and Political Trust Interact to Affect Vaccine Hesitancy

Lalot, Fanny; Abrams, Dominic; Heering, Maria S.; Babaian, Jacinta; Ozkececi, Hilal; Peitz, Linus; Davies Hayon, Kaya and Broadwood, Jo (2023). Distrustful Complacency and the COVID ‐19 Vaccine: How Concern and Political Trust Interact to Affect Vaccine Hesitancy. Political Psychology (Early Access).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12871

Abstract

We test the hypothesis that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is attributable to distrustful complacency—an interactive combination of low concern and low trust. Across two studies, 9,695 respondents from different parts of Britain reported their level of concern about COVID-19, trust in the UK government, and intention to accept or refuse the vaccine. Multilevel regression analysis, controlling for geographic area and relevant demographics, confirmed the predicted interactive effect of concern and trust. Across studies, respondents with both low trust and low concern were 10%–22% more vaccine hesitant than respondents with either high trust or high concern, and 26%–29% more hesitant than respondents with both high trust and high concern. Results hold equally among White, Black, and Muslim respondents, consistent with the view that regardless of mean-level differences, a common process underlies vaccine hesitancy, underlining the importance of tackling distrustful complacency both generally and specifically among unvaccinated individuals and populations.

Viewing alternatives

Look up in Google Scholar

Download history

Metrics

Public Attention

Altmetrics from Altmetric

Number of Citations

Citations from Dimensions

Item Actions

Export

About

CORE (COnnecting REpositories)

Recommendations