Absolutely; I suspect it all comes back to cognitive dissonance. "I am a smart and reasonable person" + "I'm afraid to get injected with a needle" metamorphose

Absolutely; I suspect it all comes back to cognitive dissonance. "I am a smart and reasonable person" + "I'm afraid to get injected with a needle" metamorphoses into "clearly, my fear of getting injected is because I am so much smarter than everyone else", leading them to latch onto conspiracy theories as a coping mechanism to make them not only feel in control, but also make them feel like they're smarter than the average bear.