Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic
We study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2023-09-01
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| Series: | BMJ Global Health |
| Online Access: | https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/9/e012658.full |
| _version_ | 1797628278794616832 |
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| author | Martin McKee David Stuckler Vincenzo Galasso Vincent Pons Paola Profeta Michael Becher Sylvain Brouard Martial Foucault |
| author_facet | Martin McKee David Stuckler Vincenzo Galasso Vincent Pons Paola Profeta Michael Becher Sylvain Brouard Martial Foucault |
| author_sort | Martin McKee |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at random in a survey of 6379 adults in December 2020, following up with participants in the nationally representative survey Citizens’ Attitudes Under COVID-19 Project covering nine high-income countries (Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Four alternative interventions were tested, based on narratives of (1) self-protection, (2) protecting others, (3) reducing health risks and (4) economic protection. We measure vaccination intentions in the December 2020 survey and elicit actual vaccination behaviour by respondents in the June/July 2021 survey. Messages conveying self-protection had no effect on vaccine intentions but altruistic messages, emphasising protecting other individuals (0.022, 95% CI −0.004 to 0.048), population health (0.030, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.056) and the economy (0.038, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.064) had substantially stronger effects. These effects were stronger in countries experiencing high COVID-19 mortality (Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the USA), where health risks may have been more salient, but weaker and, in several cases, not significant where mortality was low (Australia, Germany and New Zealand). On follow-up at 6 months, these brief communication interventions corresponded to substantially higher vaccination uptake. Our experiments found that commonly employed narratives around self-protection had no effect. However, altruistic messages about protecting individuals, population health and the economy had substantially positive and enduring effects on increasing vaccination intentions. Our results can help structure communication campaigns during pandemics and are likely to generalise to other vaccine-preventable epidemics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:37:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f790ff05328f43d685a8955137073fbb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2059-7908 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:37:03Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Global Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-f790ff05328f43d685a8955137073fbb2023-11-14T11:00:07ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Global Health2059-79082023-09-018910.1136/bmjgh-2023-012658Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemicMartin McKee0David Stuckler1Vincenzo Galasso2Vincent Pons3Paola Profeta4Michael Becher5Sylvain Brouard6Martial Foucault7London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UKDepartment of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, Milano, ItalyDepartment of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, Milano, ItalyHarvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USADepartment of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, Milano, ItalySchool of Politics, Economics, and Global Affairs, IE University, Madrid, SpainCentre de recherches politiques (CEVIPOF), Sciences Po, Paris, FranceCentre de recherches politiques (CEVIPOF), Sciences Po, Paris, FranceWe study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at random in a survey of 6379 adults in December 2020, following up with participants in the nationally representative survey Citizens’ Attitudes Under COVID-19 Project covering nine high-income countries (Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Four alternative interventions were tested, based on narratives of (1) self-protection, (2) protecting others, (3) reducing health risks and (4) economic protection. We measure vaccination intentions in the December 2020 survey and elicit actual vaccination behaviour by respondents in the June/July 2021 survey. Messages conveying self-protection had no effect on vaccine intentions but altruistic messages, emphasising protecting other individuals (0.022, 95% CI −0.004 to 0.048), population health (0.030, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.056) and the economy (0.038, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.064) had substantially stronger effects. These effects were stronger in countries experiencing high COVID-19 mortality (Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the USA), where health risks may have been more salient, but weaker and, in several cases, not significant where mortality was low (Australia, Germany and New Zealand). On follow-up at 6 months, these brief communication interventions corresponded to substantially higher vaccination uptake. Our experiments found that commonly employed narratives around self-protection had no effect. However, altruistic messages about protecting individuals, population health and the economy had substantially positive and enduring effects on increasing vaccination intentions. Our results can help structure communication campaigns during pandemics and are likely to generalise to other vaccine-preventable epidemics.https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/9/e012658.full |
| spellingShingle | Martin McKee David Stuckler Vincenzo Galasso Vincent Pons Paola Profeta Michael Becher Sylvain Brouard Martial Foucault Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic BMJ Global Health |
| title | Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | addressing vaccine hesitancy experimental evidence from nine high income countries during the covid 19 pandemic |
| url | https://gh.bmj.com/content/8/9/e012658.full |
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