A research team led by Professor Hitoshi Yamamoto of Rissho University analyzed five years of longitudinal panel survey data collected between 2020 and 2024 to examine how vaccine-related conspiracy beliefs were associated with media skepticism during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an Aug. 5 report. The study's results appeared in Scientific Reports on August 8.
Researchers reviewed annual survey data from the same participants over five consecutive years, focusing on relationships among media use, media skepticism, subjective media literacy, and subsequent vaccine conspiracy beliefs.
The analyses suggested that vaccine conspiracy beliefs may involve at least two distinct aspects. One aspect reflects distrust of institutions, including beliefs that governments or pharmaceutical companies conceal information. The other involves highly implausible claims, such as the belief that vaccines contain microchips. These two aspects differed both in prevalence and in the factors associated with them.
Conspiracy beliefs rooted in distrust of institutions were more strongly associated with persistent skepticism toward mainstream media and with increasing skepticism over the course of the pandemic. In contrast, only a relatively small minority of respondents endorsed highly implausible conspiracy beliefs like claims about microchips in vaccines. Researchers noted that these extreme claims may nonetheless appear more prominent online or on social media platforms.
The study also examined these issues within Japan's less politically polarized media environment compared to many Western countries. Findings suggest that conspiracy-related beliefs can emerge even where there is relatively broad social consensus around information sources.
Professor Yamamoto said, "When people think about conspiracy beliefs, attention often focuses on highly extreme claims. However, our findings suggest that more common forms of conspiracy-related thinking are associated with persistent distrust of social institutions and the mainstream media. Addressing misinformation may therefore require not only correcting factual inaccuracies, but also understanding how distrust develops and persists within contemporary information environments."
