Shabnam Javanmard: COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Demographics in Iran: Sequential Mediation Model Through Mistrust in Science and Belief in COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Theories

This is a cross-sectional study conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak, between 23rd September and 29th December 2021 on 701 Iranian people. This study demonstrates that 92.45% of participants were eager to be vaccinated or have already been vaccinated at the time of data collection. Low education, having background medical condition and belief in traditional complementary and alternative medicine are significantly correlated with vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, Logistic regression results showed that having background medical condition and belief in traditional complementary and alternative medicine significantly predict the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. In addition, education and belief in traditional complementary and alternative medicine indirectly affect COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy as they influence mistrust in science and belief in COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories. This research indicates the critical role that trust in science plays as the mediator between vaccine hesitancy and its predictors. In addition, low-educated people and traditional complementary and alternative medicine believers should be given special importance when developing interventions for tackling the health-related problem in the society.

Javanmard, S., Amini-Rarani, M., & Azadi, S. (2025). COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Demographics in Iran: Sequential Mediation Model Through Mistrust in Science and Belief in COVID-19 Vaccine Conspiracy Theories. Psychology Hub, 42(3), 05-16.

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Matthew Dunleavy wearing a pink and purple polka-dot shirt under a grey blazer with red-framed glasses and a long reddish-brown beard smiling into the camera
Matthew Dunleavy

Senior Educational Developer, Faculty Excellence and Development

Matthew Dunleavy (he/him) is an educational developer and scholarly teacher with over 9+ years’ experience. He immediately joins our CTEI from York University where he was an Educational Developer with the Teaching Commons; before entering that role, he served as the Program Director of the Online Learning and Technology Consultants (OLTC) Program at the Maple League of Universities (Acadia University; Bishop’s University; Mount Allison University; and St. Francis Xavier University). In 2022, he was awarded the D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) for this work.