The Effects of Media Attitudes on COVID-19 and Fertility Related Issues on Likelihood to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine
As people around the world have been working to understand and cope with the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 virus, discourse about topics such as the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, the effectiveness of mask mandates, and the validity of the existence of COVID-19 and/or the risks it poses have followed. To further understand the reactions to the coronavirus and its implications, an important factor to consider is how different demographics, namely gender, may respond to the aforementioned factors of COVID-19. One of the most divisive aspects of COVID-19 is the vaccine and the willingness to receive it, with some people being more inclined than others. Callaghan et al. (2021) found that women were 71% less likely than men to pursue the vaccination. Additionally, previous research has examined why certain groups of people might be less inclined to get the vaccine than others. Findings demonstrate that there are three main categories of vaccine hesitancies, including concerns about the safety of the vaccine, negative stories people have heard, and their own personal knowledge and experiences (Lockyer et al., 2021). Based on this, one reason women might be less inclined to receive the vaccine than men could be because women have been told there are concerns about the effects of the vaccine on fertility and pregnancies. What the studies by Callaghan et al. and Lockyer et al. lack is an analysis about COVID-19 related news media and how the interaction of exposure to this media and gender differences may impact different people’s attitudes and opinions about the topic. This is important because media that describes fertility issues related to the COVID-19 vaccine may influence women to not receive the vaccine. The purpose of our study is to gain an understanding of the disparities in perception of the COVID-19 vaccine between males and females, and how information from news articles may impact or sway perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine.
There is a substantial amount of research that suggests there is a relationship between attitudes towards the COVID-19 pandemic and gender. A study on COVID-19 fears in a Cuban population sample found that women had more fear surrounding the virus than men (Broche-Pérez, et al., 2020). Additionally, women have been shown to be more likely to comply with government intervention and public safety protocols than men. In one study, Galasso and colleagues looked to determine gender differences in terms of compliance and reactions towards the COVID-19 pandemic. In two separate surveys during two waves of the pandemic in March and April 2020, they received information from eight countries and found similar reactions among genders. In both surveys, women were more likely than men to view COVID-19 as a serious health threat and more approving of public safety protocols, such as quarantines, mask wearing, and shutting down businesses. These findings were consistent among all eight countries, during both waves, with the exception of second wave Austria (Galasso, et al., 2020).
This does not align with the results from the studies on gender differences and inclinations to receive the vaccine, which found that women were less likely to get vaccinated. Zintel et al. (2021) conducted a meta-analytic study of gender differences in regard to people’s inclination to get vaccinated and found that men have a higher intention to receive the vaccine than women. This was found to be consistent across many countries, and is especially true for health-care workers (Zintel et al., 2021). Others have shown, via a study surveying men and women in May, 2020, that out of the 67% of Americans who were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the time, men were more likely to take it than women (Kaplan & Milstein, 2021).
One reason women might be more hesitant to get the vaccine is due to the perceived unknown effects of the vaccine on fertility. On December 4, 2020, developmental and reproductive toxicology studies were submitted for the Moderna vaccine. From the toxicology study, it was concluded that the vaccine had no negative effects on fertility (Rasmussen et al., 2020). However, in the early stages of the vaccine development, there was little to no testing being done on pregnant women. This is because pregnant women’s bodies go through significant physiological and anatomical changes, leading them to be seen as a “scientifically complex” population (Farrell et al., 2020). Thus, pregnant women are often omitted from clinical vaccine trials due to unknown effects on the fetus. Because pregnant women were excluded from the vaccine trials for so long, women might be more hesitant to receive the vaccine right away. The results of the discussed studies lead us to believe that fertility concerns were the main reason women were less likely to receive the vaccine, but more likely to comply with COVID-19 mandates.
Based on the literature, it is expected that participants will be more inclined to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when COVID-19 is described as a serious problem, whereas they will be less inclined to receive the vaccine when COVID-19 is described as something that does not need to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it is expected women will be more willing to receive the vaccine when they are given the no fertility issue condition than when given the fertility issue condition because they might have concerns about fertility. In comparison, it is expected that when the subject is male, there will be no difference in vaccine inclination when given the different fertility conditions because the vaccine’s effects on fertility would not affect their bodies.
Methods
Participants and Design
Participants were 498 (266 male, 212 female, and 1 non-binary/other) U.S. citizens who were obtained through Amazon’s MTurk. Participants’ ages ranged from 20 to 75. Of the participants, 63% were White, 16% were Asian, 7% were Black or African-American, 5% were Hispanic, 3% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and <1% were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. We focused our study on the 241 participants who had not received the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants were paid 15 cents each. Our study was a 2x2x2 between-subjects design.
Materials
Participants read one of two news articles in which the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed as a serious and dangerous problem (positive attitude condition) or as something that can be ignored (negative attitude condition). The articles also either stated that there are fertility issues associated with the vaccine (fertility issues condition) or that there are no fertility issues associated with the vaccine (no fertility issues condition). There were four articles total, in these combinations: Positive Attitude, No Fertility Issues; Negative Attitude, No Fertility Issues; Positive Attitude, Fertility Issues; Negative Attitude, No Fertility Issues (see Appendix A for full articles).
We gave the participants a survey that measured demographics (gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, education level, age) and the following dependent measures: anxiety levels before and after reading the article, vaccination status and opinions on the vaccine, future family plans, likelihood to comply with mask mandates, and attitudes toward COVID-19 in general.