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Pharmaceutical companies conspiring to profit over people or test new drugs
In general, conspiracy theories tend to become more prominent when people feel threatened or fear a loss of control, because the theories allow people to cope with threatening events by focusing blame on a set of presumed conspirators.
Not everyone who engages in conspiratorial rhetoric is a firm believer in a conspiracy. Sometimes conspiracy theories are used as a rhetorical tool to escape inconvenient conclusions. For example, some people will allude to a conspiracy among scientists to explain away a scientific consensus they oppose, such as climate change, but the same people will not do so when a scientific consensus is of no relevance to their personal attitudes. In general, debunking is easier with individuals who adopt conspiratorial rhetoric only for convenience.
However, some individuals are deeply committed to their conspiratorial beliefs, which may have become part of their identity. Debunking is much more challenging with those committed individuals. People who are committed believers tend to be devoted to more than one conspiracy theory.
Belief in multiple conspiracies (that COVID is a hoax and that the government is hiding people killed by the vaccine) is therefore a good indicator of beliefs that are probably deeply held. In addition, people who are committed believers also tend to exhibit other diagnostic attitudes and attributes. For example, people high on narcissism are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, as are people who engage in magical thinking (e.g., claim to have experience with the supernatural) and are high in Machiavellianism (and hence low in trust).
The variables that drive belief in conspiracy theories tend to be emotional in nature and revolved around fears and a sense of loss of control.
This theme claims that vaccines are part of a conspiracy by ‘Big Pharma’ (typically medical, pharmaceutical, regulatory, and/or health organisations, including health care professionals) in order to increase profits. Supporters of vaccines are perceived to be in the pocket of these organisations.
Conspiracist arguments about financial gain often—though not always—co-occurs with the ‘Government cover-up‘ theme, where the financial incentives are covered up along with vaccine dangers.
The pharmaceutical industry does make money with vaccines. Private companies in all industries have an interest in earning money with their products. Critically questioning the motives of industries is very important, because profit-making activities sometimes involve a conflict of interest or may lead companies to issue misleading information.
Dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals is most productive if it is guided by empathy, and an opportunity for the patient to affirm the reasons underlying their attitudes and to express understanding for that. That’s why it is important to understand the attitude roots behind people’s overt opinions. To affirm a person’s underlying attitude root does not mean we need to agree with the specifics of their argument. For example, we can acknowledge that:
The pharmaceutical industry does make money with vaccines. Private companies in all industries have an interest in earning money with their products. Critically questioning the motives of industries is very important, because profit-making activities sometimes involve a conflict of interest or may lead companies to issue misleading information.
Profits aren’t limited to pharmaceutical companies. Vaccine opponents also make lots of money by selling alternative health products.
There are no independent regulators for alternative products, but regulators, such as the MHRA in the UK, assess data on the safety and efficacy of medical products. Regulators are independent scientists who review the data to make sure that vaccines are safe and effective, with very low risks of side effects before we get them.
The data that reports the safety as well as any side-effects of vaccines are public and open to anyone. Whenever any safety concerns are raised, regulators take them very seriously and may even pause administering a vaccine—as happened in 2021 in younger age groups in the UK with the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19.
Additional information:
Academic references:
In general, conspiracy theories tend to become more prominent when people feel threatened or fear a loss of control, because the theories allow people to cope with threatening events by focusing blame on a set of presumed conspirators.
Not everyone who engages in conspiratorial rhetoric is a firm believer in a conspiracy. Sometimes conspiracy theories are deployed as a rhetorical tool to escape inconvenient conclusions. For example, some people selectively appeal to a conspiracy among scientists to explain away a scientific consensus they oppose, such as climate change, but the same people will not do so when a scientific consensus is of no relevance to their personal attitudes. In general, debunking is easier with individuals who deploy conspiratorial rhetoric only for convenience.
However, some individuals are deeply committed to their conspiratorial beliefs, which may have become part of their identity. Debunking is much more challenging with those committed individuals. People who are committed believers tend to be devoted to more than one conspiracy theory. Belief in multiple conspiracies (that COVID is a hoax and that the government is hiding people killed by the vaccine) is therefore a good indicator of beliefs that are probably deeply held. In addition, people who are committed believers also tend to exhibit other diagnostic attitudes and attributes. For example, people high on narcissism are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, as are people who engage in magical thinking (e.g., claim to have experience with the supernatural) and are high in Machiavellianism (and hence low in trust). The variables that drive belief in conspiracy theories tend to be emotional in nature and revolved around fears and a sense of loss of control.
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