A poll found most Americans believe or are unsure about the accuracy of at least one false claim regarding COVID-19 or the vaccines.
The Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Nov. 8 found nearly 80% of respondents either believe or said they are unsure if they believe at least one of the eight myths tested. It found the likelihood that someone believes misinformation hinges largely on their vaccination status, political party identification and trusted news sources.
The poll, conducted Oct. 14-24, included 1,519 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. It comes as misinformation and disinformation surrounding the coronavirus and COVID-19 vaccines have posed a major problem in combating the pandemic.
“The findings highlight a major challenge for efforts to accurately communicate the rapidly evolving science about the pandemic when false and ambiguous information can spread quickly, whether inadvertently or deliberately, through social media, polarized news sources and other outlets,” KFF said in a news release about the poll.
In July, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called health misinformation an “urgent threat.”
“Health misinformation, including disinformation, have threatened the U.S. response to COVID-19 and continue to prevent Americans from getting vaccinated, prolonging the pandemic and putting lives at risk,” Murthy said.
Most commonly believed false claims
The poll found that the most commonly-believed piece of misinformation was that “the government is exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths,” with 38% who said they believe it to be true. Health officials have long dispelled the false claim that the deaths are over-counted.
The second-most commonly believed false claim was that the government is intentionally hiding “deaths due to the COVID-19 vaccine.” The COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and serious health problems after vaccination are extremely rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Additionally, data has shown that the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 and deaths, even with the highly contagious delta variant.
Another 17% of respondents said they believe the false claim that “pregnant women should not get the COVID-19 vaccine.” Officials have said the COVID-19 vaccines are “unlikely to pose a specific risk for people who are pregnant,” McClatchy News previously reported.
A study published in March found that pregnant people, who face increased risks for severe COVID-19, gain similar levels of antibodies following vaccination and that they pass that immunity on to their babies.
Other false claims included that ivermectin can treat or prevent COVID-19, which the FDA warns against; that COVID-19 vaccines can cause fertility issues, which health officials say there is no evidence to support; and that you can get coronavirus from one of the vaccines, which experts say is impossible as the vaccines do not release any live virus.
How common is belief in COVID-19 misinformation?
When asked about eight false claims regarding the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 vaccines, the poll found 78% of respondents said they believe at least one of them to be true or aren’t sure whether the misinformation is valid. .
Many respondents said they believe more than one of the false claims.
Thirty-two percent said they believe or are unsure about at least four of the statements, 46% believe or are unsure about one to three false statements.
Just 22% said they definitely did not believe any of the false statements.
KFF said that vaccination status and political views correlated with belief in misinformation.
Among respondents who are not vaccinated against COVID-19, 64% said they believe or are uncertain about at least four false statements included in the survey. Meanwhile, 19% of vaccinated people said the same.
Forty-six percent of Republicans surveyed said they believe or are unsure about at least four of the false claims while 14% of Democrats said the same, the poll found.
“In addition to these differences by partisanship and vaccination status, believing or having doubts about four or more pieces of COVID-19 misinformation is also more prevalent among rural residents compared to those living in urban and suburban areas, among those without a college degree compared to college graduates, and among those ages 18-49 compared to those ages 50 and over,” KFF said,
The poll also found a correlation between what news sources people trust and their belief in misinformation.
“Among those who say they trust COVID-19 information from CNN, MSNBC, network news, NPR, and local TV news, between three in ten and four in ten do not believe any of the eight pieces of misinformation tested in the survey, while small shares (between 11%-16%) believe or are unsure about at least four falsehoods,” KFF said.
But people who trust COVID-19 information from top conservative news outlets were more likely to believe more false statements, KFF said, “with nearly four in ten of those who trust Fox News (36%) and One America News (37%) and nearly half (46%) of those who trust Newsmax for such information saying they have heard at least four of the falsehoods tested in the survey and either believe them to be true or are unsure if they’re true or false.”
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