Anticipation of COVID-19 Vaccines Reduces Social Distancing

Ola Andersson, Pol Campos-Mercade, Armando Meier () and Erik Wengström

No 2020:29, Working Papers from Lund University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We show that the anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines reduces voluntary social distancing. In a large-scale preregistered survey experiment with a representative sample, we study whether providing information about the safety, effectiveness, and availability of COVID-19 vaccines affects compliance with public health guidelines. We find that vaccine information reduces peoples' voluntary social distancing, adherence to hygiene guidelines, and their willingness to stay at home. Vaccine information induces people to believe in a swifter return to normal life and puts their vigilance at ease. The results indicate an important behavioral drawback of the successful vaccine development: An increased focus on vaccines can lead to bad health behaviors and accelerate the spread of the virus. The results imply that, as vaccinations start and the end of the pandemic feels closer, existing policies aimed at increasing social distancing will be less effective and stricter policies might be required.

Keywords: Economic epidemiology; social distancing; vaccination; information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 D91 I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2020-12-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Anticipation of COVID-19 Vaccines Reduces Social Distancing (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2020_029

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