Can ChatGPT Counter Vaccine Hesitancy? An Evaluation of ChatGPT's Responses to Simulated Queries from the General Public

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Public Health
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Vaccine hesitancy remains a significant public health challenge, impacting vaccination rates.
• Individuals may seek health information from artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT due to mistrust in healthcare providers.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy and alignment of ChatGPT's responses to common vaccine hesitancy questions.
• To assess ChatGPT's potential utility in addressing public concerns about vaccines.

Main Methods:

• Infectious disease physicians formulated 15 vaccine hesitancy questions covering efficacy, adverse effects, and socio-cultural issues.
• ChatGPT responses were assessed by two independent physicians for factual accuracy against CDC/ACIP recommendations.

Main Results:

• ChatGPT provided factually accurate and reassuring answers to most vaccine hesitancy queries.
• Identified limitations include a lack of specificity regarding ACIP recommendations, omission of alternative vaccine types (non-mRNA), and insufficient depth on religious objections.

Conclusions:

• ChatGPT can serve as a valuable supplementary tool for addressing vaccine hesitancy.
• Further development is needed to ensure comprehensive and context-specific information delivery to support public health initiatives.