“Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy
Managing the COVID-19 pandemic—and other communicable diseases—involves broad societal uptake of vaccines. As has been demonstrated, however, vaccine uptake is often uneven and incomplete across populations. This is a substantial challenge that must be addressed by public health efforts. To this poi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-11-01
|
| Series: | Vaccines |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1417 |
| _version_ | 1797500066916728832 |
|---|---|
| author | Eric B. Kennedy Jean-François Daoust Jenna Vikse Vivian Nelson |
| author_facet | Eric B. Kennedy Jean-François Daoust Jenna Vikse Vivian Nelson |
| author_sort | Eric B. Kennedy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Managing the COVID-19 pandemic—and other communicable diseases—involves broad societal uptake of vaccines. As has been demonstrated, however, vaccine uptake is often uneven and incomplete across populations. This is a substantial challenge that must be addressed by public health efforts. To this point, significant research has focused on demographic and attitudinal correlates with vaccine hesitancy to understand uptake patterns. In this study, however, we advance understandings of individual decision-making processes involved in vaccine uptake through a mixed-methods investigation of the role of <i>timing</i> in COVID-19 vaccine choices. In the first step, a survey experiment, we find the timing of vaccine rollout (i.e., when a vaccine becomes available to the respondent) has a significant impact on public decision-making. Not only is there a higher level of acceptance when the vaccine becomes available at a later time, but delayed availability is correlated with both lower levels of ‘desire to wait’ and ‘total rejection’ of the vaccine. In a second step, we explore associated qualitative data, finding that temporal expressions (i.e., professing a desire to wait) can serve as a proxy for underlying non-temporal rationales, like concerns around safety, efficacy, personal situations, or altruism. By identifying these patterns, as well as the complexities of underlying factors, through a mixed-methods investigation, we can inform better vaccine-related policy and public messaging, as well as enhance our understanding of how individuals make decisions about vaccines in the context of COVID-19. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d19d1eda27b54c7abdf962400bc0212f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-393X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T03:56:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vaccines |
| spelling | doaj.art-d19d1eda27b54c7abdf962400bc0212f2023-11-23T10:54:03ZengMDPI AGVaccines2076-393X2021-11-01912141710.3390/vaccines9121417“Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine HesitancyEric B. Kennedy0Jean-François Daoust1Jenna Vikse2Vivian Nelson3Disaster and Emergency Management, School of Administrative Studies, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, CanadaPolitics & International Relations, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, Scotland, UKDiscourse, Science, Publics Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, CanadaDiscourse, Science, Publics Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, CanadaManaging the COVID-19 pandemic—and other communicable diseases—involves broad societal uptake of vaccines. As has been demonstrated, however, vaccine uptake is often uneven and incomplete across populations. This is a substantial challenge that must be addressed by public health efforts. To this point, significant research has focused on demographic and attitudinal correlates with vaccine hesitancy to understand uptake patterns. In this study, however, we advance understandings of individual decision-making processes involved in vaccine uptake through a mixed-methods investigation of the role of <i>timing</i> in COVID-19 vaccine choices. In the first step, a survey experiment, we find the timing of vaccine rollout (i.e., when a vaccine becomes available to the respondent) has a significant impact on public decision-making. Not only is there a higher level of acceptance when the vaccine becomes available at a later time, but delayed availability is correlated with both lower levels of ‘desire to wait’ and ‘total rejection’ of the vaccine. In a second step, we explore associated qualitative data, finding that temporal expressions (i.e., professing a desire to wait) can serve as a proxy for underlying non-temporal rationales, like concerns around safety, efficacy, personal situations, or altruism. By identifying these patterns, as well as the complexities of underlying factors, through a mixed-methods investigation, we can inform better vaccine-related policy and public messaging, as well as enhance our understanding of how individuals make decisions about vaccines in the context of COVID-19.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1417vaccineCOVID-19vaccine hesitancyrisk aversiontimingpublic health |
| spellingShingle | Eric B. Kennedy Jean-François Daoust Jenna Vikse Vivian Nelson “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy Vaccines vaccine COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy risk aversion timing public health |
| title | “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy |
| title_full | “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy |
| title_fullStr | “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy |
| title_full_unstemmed | “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy |
| title_short | “Until I Know It’s Safe for Me”: The Role of Timing in COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making and Vaccine Hesitancy |
| title_sort | until i know it s safe for me the role of timing in covid 19 vaccine decision making and vaccine hesitancy |
| topic | vaccine COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy risk aversion timing public health |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/9/12/1417 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ericbkennedy untiliknowitssafeformetheroleoftimingincovid19vaccinedecisionmakingandvaccinehesitancy AT jeanfrancoisdaoust untiliknowitssafeformetheroleoftimingincovid19vaccinedecisionmakingandvaccinehesitancy AT jennavikse untiliknowitssafeformetheroleoftimingincovid19vaccinedecisionmakingandvaccinehesitancy AT viviannelson untiliknowitssafeformetheroleoftimingincovid19vaccinedecisionmakingandvaccinehesitancy |