Emphasize personal health benefits to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates

Madison Ashworth (), Linda Thunström, Todd Cherry, Stephen C. Newbold and David Finnoff
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Madison Ashworth: Department of Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071
Linda Thunström: Department of Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071
Stephen C. Newbold: Department of Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 32, e2108225118

Abstract: The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines is a tremendous scientific response to the current global pandemic. However, vaccines per se do not save lives and restart economies. Their success depends on the number of people getting vaccinated. We used a survey experiment to examine the impact on vaccine intentions of a variety of public health messages identified as particularly promising: three messages that emphasize different benefits from the vaccines (personal health, the health of others, and the recovery of local and national economies) and one message that emphasizes vaccine safety. Because people will likely be exposed to multiple messages in the real world, we also examined the effect of these messages in combination. Based on a nationally quota representative sample of 3,048 adults in the United States, our findings suggest that several forms of public messages can increase vaccine intentions, but messaging that emphasizes personal health benefits had the largest impact.

Keywords: COVID-19; vaccine hesitancy; information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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