Misinformation has been a pressing issue since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening our ability to effectively act on the crisis. Nevertheless, little is known about the actual effects of fake news on behavioural intentions. Does exposure to or belief in misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines affect people's intentions to receive…

Health misinformation is a problem on social media, and more understanding is needed about how users cognitively process it. In this study, participants' accuracy in determining whether 60 health claims were true (e.g., "Vaccines prevent disease outbreaks") or false (e.g., "Vaccines cause disease outbreaks") was assessed. The…

U.S. print news coverage of COVID vaccine hesitancy represents a departure from previous depictions of vaccine skepticism as a problem of wrong belief. This article reports on a mixed methods study of 334 "New York Times" texts about COVID nonvaccination and vaccine hesitancy published between December 2020-December 2021. Texts were…

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic has cast a light on the question of why trust in scientists is important. This mixed-method study aimed to explore the study participants' trust in scientists about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. It also aimed to reveal which key sources of information participants followed about the pandemic. Participants'…

Over the past year, educators have developed curricula teaching about the COVID-19 pandemic (Reed 2020; Royce 2020; Sadler et al. 2020). Many of these curricula feature computer simulations of epidemic dynamics (Kelter 2020; Sadler et al. 2020). Because an epidemic pattern is an emergent property of interacting human behaviors, it is crucial for…

In the coronavirus "infodemic," people are exposed to official recommendations but also to potentially dangerous pseudoscientific advice claimed to protect against COVID-19. We examined whether irrational beliefs predict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as well as susceptibility to such misinformation. Irrational beliefs were indexed by…

This paper presents a novel approach to teaching how vaccines work in the body, and introduces a community outreach project and activity we piloted with youth. Our Nuestra Ciencia program addresses scientific misconceptions among bilingual elementary school children in engaging and scientifically accurate ways. Utilizing analogies and…

With the onset and rapid spread of COVID-19 without a safe and effective vaccine, initial efforts to reduce community spread focused on basic public health measures such as mask wearing, social distancing, hand-washing, avoiding large gatherings, and suspected cases isolation and quarantine. Following was the development of the COVID-19…

This study sought to identify barriers and facilitators to delivery of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in schools. Four focus groups were conducted with 28 staff members, from four National Health Service school-aged vaccination (SAV) teams in London. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. School engagement and support, and…

In sub-Saharan Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have far-reaching consequences for 550 million children under the age of 18. This UNICEF Child Alert examines how the disease and measures put in place to contain it are impacting the lives of children across the region, exacerbating existing threats like conflict, climate change and…

Objective: To assess knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) and perceived barriers to being vaccinated against the virus. Participants: Three hundred ninety-six undergraduate women enrolled at Penn State University in Fall 2008. Methods: A random sample of students were invited to participate in a Web-based survey. Results: Awareness of HPV and…

Purpose: The aim of this small-scale focus group study is to explore the impact the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine has on attitudes towards HPV, cervical cancer and sexual risk taking amongst university students in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were recruited through advertisements placed on notice boards throughout the…