ABSTRACT
Vaccines are crucial for controlling deadly diseases, and how to persuade people to get vaccinated has become a hot topic in enhancing public health benefits. One way to increase the vaccination rate is to raise public awareness of the importance of vaccines through advertising. As an effective and cost-friendly approach, goal framing has been widely used in vaccine advertising. However, the literature has mixed findings about whether positive or negative goal framing is more effective in persuading people to get vaccinated. The present study aims to investigate how temporal distance (present vs. future) interacts with different types of goal framing (positive vs. negative) in persuading people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. We hypothesized that negative goal framing is more persuasive when the advertising focuses on present outcomes, while positive goal framing is more effective when combined with future- focused outcomes. We further hypothesized that the inner mechanism is the intertemporal asymmetry of approach and avoidance motivation. More specifically, the avoidance motivation induced by a negative frame is stronger in the present, while the approach motivation induced by a positive frame is stronger in the future. The perceived risk of COVID-19 moderated this effect. Four studies were conducted to examine our hypotheses. Study 1 was conducted to preliminarily investigate how goal framing and temporal distance jointly influence willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The aim of Study 2 was to verify the mediating effect of approach and avoidance motivation in a different advertising setting, as well as to rule out the potential mediators of the construal level and positive/ negative emotions. In Study 3, we further tested the mediators by manipulating participants' approach and avoidance motivation. Study 4 was a quasi-experiment in which we recruited participants from areas with different levels of COVID-19 risk to test how perceived risk moderated the interaction effect of goal framing and temporal distance. The results showed that a negative goal frame was more persuasive when combined with present-focused advertising, while a positive goal frame was more effective when combined with future- focused advertising (Study 1, N = 363). Avoidance motivation mediated the relationship between the goal frame and vaccine uptake in the present context, while approach motivation mediated the relationship between the goal frame and vaccine uptake in the future context (Study 2, N = 292). The results in Study 3 ( N = 347) revealed that approach motivation priming increases the persuasiveness of the present-positive frame, while avoidance motivation priming increases the persuasiveness of the future- negative frame. COVID-19 risk also had an impact on the relationship between goal framing and temporal distance on vaccine uptake. When the COVID-19 risk was high, the difference in vaccine uptake between present-positive and present-negative conditions disappeared, while the future-positive frame was still more persuasive than the future- negative frame (Study 4, N = 423). In conclusion, the present study found an interactive effect of goal framing and temporal distance in persuading people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Avoidance/approach motivation mediates the relationship between goal framing and vaccine uptake in the present/future temporal context. The perceived COVID risk further moderated the interaction effect. The present study contributes to both the framing and approachavoidance motivation literature and sheds light on future practices in persuading people to get the COVID vaccine and promoting the uptake of other vaccines.
ABSTRACT
Rhinovirus (RV) is one of the pathogens causing acute and chronic respiratory illnesses worldwide in paediatric patients. Compulsory mask-wearing and high stringency of social distancing were executed in Hong Kong since the SARSCoV-2 outbreak. While other common respiratory viruses vanished in routine surveillance programme, two sudden upsurges of RV associated upper respiratory tract infections were observed from Oct. to Nov. 2020 after schools reopening, and Apr. to Aug. 2021. We aimed to investigate if these RVs have a prominent role in transmission by analysing the RV genotype composition, assessing their replication competence, and the clinical features of paediatric patients. RV specimens collected from the hospitalised patients were genotyped, with clinical features of the patient documented and compared to those obtained in the pre-COVID-19 period. The replication competence of the RVs was examined in the well-differentiated human nasopharyngeal epithelial cells (HNPEC), and the stability of the RVs on different materials was tested. We identified the monopoly of minor group RV in each of the study duration, namely RV-A47 (80%) and RV-A49 (51%), respectively. In contrast to a diversified RV genotype composition in 2018-19. Without prior in vitro adaptation, the two minor-group RVs replicated in the HNPECs effectively to a comparable level as in the laboratory strain RVA16. The rise of minor-group RVs and dominance of single RV genotype under strict social distancing and hand hygiene is remarkable. Further investigation of the viral determinant, with an assessment of transmissibility in an animal model, will be needed to validate the specific role of these RVs.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sleep-wake patterns of preschool children. METHODS: A cohort of preschoolers established before the COVID-19 pandemic was invited to participate in this study. Data including children's demographics, their own and parental sleep-wake patterns, physical activities, and screen time were collected through an online questionnaire from August to September 2020. A comparison was made on the collected data from the same cohort of children before and during the pandemic. RESULTS: The cohort which was established before the pandemic consisted of 3720 preschoolers. For this current study, 642 (17%) participated, and 497 (13%) children who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were included in the final analysis. They showed a delay in their bedtime and wake time on both weekdays and weekends with a 15-30 min increase in nocturnal sleep duration. However, with a reduction in nap time, the average daily sleep duration was shortened by 16.3 ± 64.3 min (p < 0.001) and 27.5 ± 72.9 min (p < 0.001) during weekdays and weekends, respectively. Screen time was increased while outdoor activity duration was decreased. Parental sleep/wake times were also delayed with an increase in sleep duration. Children's sleep habits were associated with screen time and parental sleep/wake patterns. CONCLUSION: Despite school suspension during the COVID-19 pandemic, preschoolers were not sleeping longer. Screen time and parental sleep/wake patterns were the major factors driving the preschoolers' sleep habits. Health education is required to control screen time in children and to promote sleep hygiene among all family members.
ABSTRACT
Vaccines that elicit mucosal immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 could potent ially be of exceptional importance in providing first line defence at the site of viral entry. In order to understand the mucosal immune response profiles of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, we examined both the mucosal and systemic responses of subjects vaccinated by two different vaccination platforms: mRNA (Comirnaty) and inactivated virus (CoronaVac). Nasal epithelial lining fluid (NELF) and peripheral blood samples were collected in subjects who had received two doses of CoronaVac or Comirnaty. We quantified IgA and IgG specific to SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein, neutralisation antibody by ELISA in NELF and plasma samples. Only Comirnaty induced nasal S1-specific IgA and IgG responses, which were evident as early as on 14±2 days after the first dose. The NELF samples of 72% of subjects became IgA+IgG+, while in 62.5% of subjects the samples were neutralising by 7±2 days after the second dose. In 45% of the subjects their NELF remained neutralising 50 days after the booster. In plasma, 91% and 100% Comirnaty subjects possessed S1-specific IgA+IgG+ on 14±2 days after the first dose and 7±2 days after booster, respectively. The plasma collected on 7±2 days after booster was 100% neutralising. The induction of S1-specific antibody by CoronaVac was IgG dominant, and 70% of the subjects possessed specific IgG by 7±2 days after booster and were all neutralising. This study reveals that Comirnaty is able to induce S1-specific IgA and IgG r esponse with neutralising activity in the nasal mucosa in addition to a consistent systemic response.