They believe in social as the only and true source of information, they are attracted to conspiracy theories and resistant to confrontation with those who try to support reasons other than their own. This is the identikit of the no vax that emerges from the research discussed during the web forum ‘Psychiatric and Neurological Issues in the Covid-19 Era: Lessons for the Present and the Future’, organized by the University of Brescia and the International Foundation Menarini. Experts reiterated that about 70% of the population wishes to be vaccinated, 20-25% manifest more or less pronounced doubts and hesitations, while the remaining 5-10% represent the fringe of the irreducibly opposed.
The studies analyzed, including a work by the University of Oxford – explains a note – allowed the speakers to draw a portrait of the well-disposed and irreducibly opposed, with the group of hesitant ones that are placed in an intermediate position, albeit closer to that of the opposites. “Specifically, compared to the well-disposed, no vaxes tend to use like the main and often unique source of information is social media instead of traditional media, have less interest in the beneficial effects that vaccination guarantees for society, and judge the speed with which vaccines have been developed as proof of Big Pharma’s unreliability rather than efficiency “, explains Emilio Sacchetti, promoter and scientific coordinator of the web forum and emeritus professor of psychiatry at the Brescia university.
Furthermore, the analysis of the experts continues, “the no vax have greater distrust of the system and of science in general, of politicians and health professionals in particular; they have a more marked propensity to live in chaotic and social erosional contexts; they are more attracted and willing to believe in plots and other false beliefs, more conditioned by uncontrolled data on the efficacy and safety of vaccines, more refractory to confrontations other than their own and inclined towards authoritarianism “.
According to Sacchetti, “this identikit should lead us to reflect: promoting vaccination using the convincing power of reason is not enough”, he warns.
“The administration of vaccination to about 90% of the Italian population – highlights the psychiatrist – indicates in fact that the share of the hesitant is now reduced to the bone, so other tools should be put in place to push the diehards to vaccinate, such as empathic communication and emotional. Furthermore, it is equally evident that a massive motivational reinforcement campaign is now needed to counter the doubts that could be produced by anti-vaccine counter-information “.