Study Finds Debunking Strategies That Repeat Vaccination Myths Do Not Appear to Be Inferior to Other Strategies

A new study has found that debunking strategies that repeat vaccination myths do not appear to be inferior to strategies that do not repeat myths. The study, “Addressing Myths and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Randomized Trial,” which will be published in the November 2021 issue of Pediatrics (published online Oct. 11), used an online experiment that recruited 788 parents of children ages 0-5 years; 454 (58%) completed the study. The study compared three text-based debunking strategies (repeating myths, posing questions, or making factual statements) and a control. Changes in agreement with myths and intention to vaccinate were measured immediately following the intervention and at least one week later. There was no evidence that repeating myths increased agreement with myths compared to the other debunking strategies or the control. Posing questions significantly decreased agreement with myths immediately after the intervention compared to the control. Posing myths as questions may be an effective debunking strategy when paired with corrective text, the authors argue. Further research should examine why some myths are more persistent than others, the authors conclude.