Kontakt X:X | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2026.052

Misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and health marketing communication: associations between exposure to media narratives, trust in sources, and vaccination intention in the Czech RepublicSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Zbyněk Stavař ORCID...¹, Ivan Tomek¹, Alena Hricová ORCID...^{2, *}

¹ Pan-European University, Faculty Management College of Business and Law, Department of Marketing, Prague, Czech Republic

² University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Institute of Social and Special-Paedagogical Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

This quantitative cross-sectional study examines the relationship between exposure to critical vaccination narratives, trust in information sources, perceived quality of official communication, and vaccination intention among adults in the Czech Republic. Data were collected through an anonymous online questionnaire from 526 respondents recruited via a professional online panel. Key variables were operationalised as aggregated indices capturing exposure to misinformation narratives, trust in official sources, perceived positive modality of official communication, overall trust in vaccination, and vaccination intention. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients; the study does not claim causal effects. Exposure to critical narratives was negatively associated with vaccination intention (r = -0.225; p < 0.001). Trust in official sources showed substantially stronger positive associations with vaccination intention (r = 0.600; p < 0.001) and overall trust in vaccination (r = 0.695; p < 0.001). A positive and reassuring communication style was also significantly linked to higher trust in vaccination (r = 0.571; p < 0.001). The findings indicate that declining institutional trust may be a more decisive factor in vaccine hesitancy than exposure to misinformation alone. Practically, the study suggests that public health campaigns and health marketing communication should prioritise long-term trust building, clarity, segmentation, and respectful behaviour change communication rather than relying only on factual correction of misinformation.

Keywords: Health Marketing; Health misinformation; Institutional trust; Public Health Communication; Social Marketing; Trust in health institutions; Vaccination intention

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: February 25, 2026; Revised: July 23, 2026; Accepted: August 31, 2026; Prepublished online: September 3, 2026