Project design: Mixed methods research
Duration: September 2020 – February 2021
Project location(s): Ebonyi, Cross-Rivers, FCT, Gombe, Kano and Lagos
Implementing Partners: Participatory Development Alternatives (Ebonyi State), Basic Foundation for Socio-Economic Development of Rural Women and Youths (Cross Rivers State), Vaccine Network for Disease Control (Federal Capital Territory), Association of OVC NGOs of Nigeria (Gombe State), Mari-Care Foundation for Widows, Single Parents, Orphans and Vulnerable Children (Kano State), and Gender Care Initiative (Lagos State)
Project description:
The COVID-19 Vaccine Ethics Research (COVER) project in Nigeria aimed to generate evidence on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, conspiracies, and acceptance to inform targeted evidence-based messaging and improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Nigeria. The specific objectives were to:
- Identify the source of information and trust in the source of information.
- Understand the nature and drivers of circulating information and misinformation around COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines in Nigeria, as well as reasons why people believe or reject the theories.
- Characterize the geographical and demographic variance in conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and its vaccines within Nigeria.
- Understand the people’s perceptions and concerns about COVID-19 vaccines.
- Describe attitudes towards vaccination generally and COVID-19 vaccines specifically in Nigeria.
- Understand how belief or sympathy for conspiracy theories may affect the intention to accept a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines.
- Identify the messaging and framing that could overcome conspiracy beliefs and theories about vaccination.
- Understand the relationship between the moral foundation of decision-making on vaccine acceptance and belief in COVID-19 or COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
Resources:
- Conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19 in Nigeria: Implications for vaccine demand generation communications (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.02.005)
Project themes/keywords: COVID-19 vaccines, misinformation, and conspiracy theories