Visual policy narrative messaging improves COVID-19 vaccine uptake.

In the face of vaccine hesitancy, public health officials are seeking more effective risk communication approaches to increase vaccination rates. We test the influence of visual policy narratives on COVID-19 vaccination behavior through a panel survey experiment conducted in early 2021 (n = 3,900) and then 8 weeks later (n = 2,268). We examine the effects of three visual policy narrative messages that test the narrative mechanism of character selection (yourself, your circle, and your community) and a nonnarrative control on COVID-19 vaccine behavior. Visual risk messages that use narratives positively influence COVID-19 vaccination through serial mediation of affective response to the messages and motivation to get the COVID-19 vaccination. Additionally, character selection matters, as messages focusing on protecting others (i.e. your circle and your community) perform stronger than those of yourself. Political ideology moderated some of the effects, with conservative respondents in the nonnarrative control condition having a higher probability of vaccination in comparison to the protect yourself condition. Taken together, these results suggest that public health officials should use narrative-based visual communication messages that emphasize communal benefits of vaccinations.

Policy learning and change during crisis: COVID-19 policy responses across six states.

Whereas policy change is often characterized as a gradual and incremental process, effective crisis response necessitates that organizations adapt to evolving problems in near real time. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the case of COVID-19, which forced subnational governments to constantly adjust and recalibrate public health and disease mitigation measures in the face of changing patterns of viral transmission and the emergence of new information. This study assesses (a) the extent to which subnational policies changed over the course of the pandemic; (b) whether these changes are emblematic of policy learning; and (c) the drivers of these changes, namely changing political and public health conditions. Using a novel dataset analyzing each policy's content, including its timing of enactment, substantive focus, stringency, and similar variables, results indicate the pandemic response varied significantly across states. The states examined were responsive to both changing public health and political conditions. This study identifies patterns of preemptive policy learning, which denotes learning in anticipation of an emerging hazard. In doing so, the study provides important insights into the dynamics of policy learning and change during disaster.

Mientras que el cambio de política a menudo se caracteriza como un proceso gradual e incremental, la respuesta efectiva a la crisis requiere que las organizaciones se adapten a los problemas en evolución casi en tiempo real. En ninguna parte esta dinámica es más evidente que en el caso de COVID­19, que obligó a los gobiernos subnacionales a ajustar y recalibrar constantemente las medidas de salud pública y mitigación de enfermedades ante los patrones cambiantes de transmisión viral y la aparición de nueva información. Este estudio evalúa (a) la medida en que las políticas subnacionales cambiaron en el transcurso de la pandemia; (b) si estos cambios son emblemáticos del aprendizaje de políticas; y (c) los impulsores de estos cambios, a saber, las cambiantes condiciones políticas y de salud pública. Usando un nuevo conjunto de datos que analiza el contenido de cada política, incluido el momento de la promulgación, el enfoque sustantivo, el rigor y variables similares, los resultados indican que la respuesta a la pandemia varió significativamente entre los estados. Los estados examinados respondieron a cambios tanto en la salud pública como en las condiciones políticas. Este estudio identifica patrones de aprendizaje de políticas preventivas, lo que denota aprendizaje en previsión de un peligro emergente. Al hacerlo, el estudio proporciona información importante sobre la dinámica del aprendizaje y el cambio de políticas durante un desastre.