Reexamining health messages in the political age: The politicization of the COVID‐19 pandemic and its detrimental effects on vaccine hesitancy

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Ioannis Kareklas,Devipsita Bhattacharya,Darrel D. Muehling,Victoria Kisekka
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12553

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Reexamining health messages in the political

age: The politicization of the COVID-19

pandemic and its detrimental effects

on vaccine hesitancy

Ioannis Kareklas

1

|Devipsita Bhattacharya

1

|

Darrel D. Muehling

2

|Victoria Kisekka

1

1

University at Albany, State University of

New York, Albany, New York, USA

2

Carson College of Business, Washington

State University, Pullman,

Washington, USA

Correspondence

Ioannis Kareklas, University at Albany,

State University of New York, 1400

Washington Avenue, Massry Center for

Business, Room 399, Albany, NY 12222,

USA.

Email: ikareklas@albany.edu

Funding information

University at Albany, Interdisciplinary

Research Grant

Abstract

Our work investigates the extent to which the politici-

zation of health science may have impacted consumers'

vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This inter-disciplinary, multi-method manuscript

reports the results of three empirical investigations

designed to examine how the consumers' political lean-

ings and the sources they rely on for information might

influence their decisions to receive a COVID-19 vac-

cine. We explore how radically opposing viewpoints

regarding the pandemic may have eroded public trust

in government institutions and health science during

the months leading up to the 2020U.S. presidential

election. In addition, we examine how consumers with

opposing political leanings may be differentially

influenced by promotional messages that represent the

two dominant contrasting viewpoints regarding the

COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, we find that low

vaccine-hesitant Trump voters can be successfully

targeted for pro-vaccination interventions using highly

credible spokespeople, perceived to have high levels of

expertise and trustworthiness.

Received: 12 November 2021Revised: 28 April 2023Accepted: 5 July 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12553

© 2023 American Council on Consumer Interests.

1120 J Consum Aff. 2023;57:1120–1150.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca

KEYWORDS

health communication, politicization of health science, source

credibility, vaccine hesitancy

1|INTRODUCTION

John Berman: “Did the lack of candor, did the lack of facts, in some cases, cost lives?”

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.: “You know, it very likely did.”

–Excerpt from an interview Dr. Fauci gave on January 22, 2021 (Stracqualursi, 2021).

As of the writing of this manuscript in April 2023, the deadly COVID-19 virus has infected

686,264,684 people globally (106,524,168 in the United States) and accounts for 6,858,497 deaths

globally (1,158,842 in the United States) (Worldometers, 2023a). To put these numbers in per-

spective, while the U.S. population is merely 4.25% of the world population

(Worldometers, 2023b), approximately 17% of all deaths attributed to COVID-19 have occurred

in the United States alone. COVID-19 has taken more American lives than the number of

U.S. troops lost in World War II (Haltiwanger, 2021) and was the third leading cause of death

in the United States in 2020 and 2021 (Shiels et al., 2023).

These staggering numbers beg a complicated, multifaceted question with no simple

answers—Why is COVID-19 infecting and killing Americans so disproportionately? For exam-

ple, one of the critical factors that might account for the disproportionate number of deaths in

the United States is obesity (Bernstein & Cha, 2020). Other factors, such as differences in popu-

lation size and density (Ives & Bozzuto, 2021), might also partly account for the higher rates of

transmission and the more significant number of deaths occurring in the United States, where

there are several large, densely populated cities. Furthermore, concerns have been raised about

the disparities in healthcare access for racial and ethnic minorities and its heightened effect on

COVID-19-related illnesses and death (CDC, 2020). The lack of vaccine supplies and the delays

in administering vaccinations across the country have also been implicated as contributing fac-

tors (Dolan, 2021).

Nonetheless, as our opening quote suggests, the statements of political figures may have also

contributed to confusion and mistrust in the minds of American citizens. Furthermore, as we

will discuss throughout this manuscript, politicians from both major political parties and politi-

cal news pundits may have contributed to the ongoing confusion and mistrust about health sci-

ence recommendations.

The backdrop for our investigation is the radically opposing viewpoints regarding the risks

of COVID-19 presented to the American public by former President Trump, his political allies,

and White House spokespeople (e.g., his White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany) ver-

sus the viewpoints expressed by then-presidential candidate (now, President) Joe Biden, and

several health experts (including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of

Allergy and Infectious Diseases) (Dwoskin & Dawsey, 2020). While President Trump, his sup-

porters, and some media outlets often downplayed the severity of the pandemic, his 2020 presi-

dential opponent, current President Joe Biden, as well as a significant number of media outlets,

espoused the importance of critical policies to address the pandemic, such as mask-wearing,

KAREKLAS ET AL.1121