Misconceptions about COVID-19 vaccine among adults in Saudi Arabia and their associated factor

It is of the utmost importance for the elements that influence public
compliance to the COVID-19 vaccine to be assessed, including
misconceptions, rumors, and conspiracy theories. Hence our study aimed to
estimate the distribution of the most common misconceptions and their
predictors in Saudi Arabia. We distributed an online questionnaire to
participants who were 18 years or older at the time of the survey, which
included four sections: demographic characteristics of participants, level
of their education, their sources of information, and perception of
participants regarding eleven of the most common misconceptions in the
community. An evaluation of the relationships between different predictors
and acceptance of these misconceptions was conducted using ordinal
logistic regression; the most widely accepted misconception was that the
vaccine has serious side effects, with 34.8% of participants reporting
this. Accepting this misinformation Factors that were significantly
associated with acceptance or refusal of misconceptions were: Gender, as
females in this survey significantly accept rumors more than males
(p<0.001); Educational level, especially secondary school, was
associated with a significant decrease in acceptance of misconceptions
(p=0.001); Information source. 60.5% of participants use social media as
their primary source of information, and it was also a significant
positive predictor of acceptance of misconceptions (p=0.034). It is of
utmost importance to increase assurance in the safety of the vaccine, as
it was the most accepted misconception, and to address the elements that
affect believing rumors among the population.