ABSTRACT
Introduction: Vaccines have emerged as a ray of hope in our battle against Covid-19. That as the backdrop, this research was aimed at studying how the framing of messages impacts attitudes of Indians towards Covid- 19 vaccines. The hypothesis was that the perceived norms about taking the vaccine will influence participants’ reported intentions to take the Covid vaccine. That is, exposure to a message indicating how willing or unwilling other Indians are to get vaccinated for the Covid-19 disease, will bring about a change in the beliefs and behavioural intention of the participants which will be in line with the message. Methodology: A between-subjects design was used. Participants (N=125. M=56, F=69) were randomly assigned to either of the two levels - positive or negative. Participants were pro-vaccines in general and between 18 to 30 years. A seven-point Likert scale was used to measure participants' willingness to take the vaccine, once it is commercially available. Results: Data was found to be not normally distributed. Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used. The Median score was 6 and 5 for level 1 and level 2, respectively. The obtained difference between the two groups was insignificant. Descriptive data was found to be in line with the hypothesis. Conclusion: Statistical significance was not found in the impact of framing on the participants in this study. In qualitative responses, groups expressed concerns over vaccines. Respondents from the negative framing group, agreeing to take the vaccine, could have been due to the social desirability bias