Online Information Behavior Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Association With Vaccination Behavior Based on Cluster Analysis of User Groups: Cross-Sectional Study
Lea Liebner, Birgit Babitsch, Lisa Schmidt, Cynthia Baur, Fangyu Yeh · 2026
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Description
Lea Liebner and colleagues sorted in 2026 a thousand German survey respondents by how they sought COVID-19 vaccine information online, then asked whether the styles predicted vaccination. The INCOVI survey ran in late 2021, when information overload strained public communication. Clustering of the 778 complete cases produced three user types.
Frequent, critical evaluators formed the majority, leaning on official sources with stronger health literacy and older ages. Passive recipients rarely searched and skewed younger, while a small multichannel group hunted widely and traded information socially. Surprisingly, the groups matched on vaccine knowledge and willingness, and group membership did not predict actual uptake. Prior willingness towered over every other factor, with education also weighing heavily. The authors say the typology still helps aim messages at each style.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Lea Liebner, Birgit Babitsch, Lisa Schmidt, Cynthia Baur, Fangyu Yeh |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 51 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |