Testing belief gaps in COVID-19 vaccines: evidence from a short-term longitudinal study

When COVID-19 vaccines were publicly distributed, there was inaccurate information about their efficacy and safety. Why is it that some people came to believe claims that were not corroborated by evidence and held such misbeliefs? Based on the belief gap hypothesis, we expect partisan-based gaps in misbeliefs about COVID-19 vaccines to grow over time as a function of partisan news exposure. Data from a three-wave survey fielded shortly after the COVID-19 vaccine public rollout showed no change in misbeliefs by political identity. However, data showed three-way interaction effects, such that levels of misbeliefs decreased during the study period for respondents with right-leaning political identities as they were exposed to vaccine-related news in both conservative and liberal news outlets. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of findings.