Investigating the Links Between Vaccination Against COVID-19 and Public Attitudes Toward Protective Countermeasures: Implications for Public Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is spreading globally at an unprecedented rate. To protect the world against this devastating catastrophe, vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 have been produced following consistent clinical trials. However, the durability of a protective immune response due to vaccination has not been confirmed. Moreover, COVID-19 vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is not 100% guaranteed, as new variants arise due to mutations. Consequently, health officials are pleading with the public to take extra precautions against the virus and continue wearing masks, wash hands, and observe physical distancing even after vaccination. The current research collected data from 4,540 participants (1,825 vaccinated and 2,715 not vaccinated) in China to analyze this phenomenon empirically. The propensity score matching (PSM) model is employed to analyze the impact of vaccination against COVID-19 on participants' attitudes toward protective countermeasures. The findings showed that gender, age, education level, occupation risk, individual health risk perception, public health risk perception, social responsibility, peer effect, and government supervision are the main drivers for participants to be vaccinated with COVID-19's vaccines. The results further show that vaccination lessened participants' frequency of hand washing by 1.75 times and their compliance frequency intensity of observing physical distancing by 1.24 times. However, the rate of mask-wearing did not reduce significantly, implying that China's main countermeasure of effective mask-wearing effectively controls COVID-19. Moreover, the findings indicate that a reduction in the frequency of hand washing and observing physical distance could cause a resurgence of COVID-19. In conclusion, factors leading to the eradication of SARS-CoV-2 from the world are complex to be achieved, so the exploration of COVID-19 vaccination and people's attitude toward protective countermeasures may provide insights for policymakers to encourage vaccinated people to follow protective health measures and help in completely defeating the COVID-19 from the globe.

Impact of COVID-19 on peoples' willingness to consume wild animals: Empirical insights from China.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presented an unprecedented challenge to public health and food systems. It is debated in the literature that SARS-CoV-2 accountable for COVID-19 originated from nature, and wildlife colonized in nature are also likely to cause COVID-19 havoc. In this study, we attempted to explore the effect of COVID-19 on peoples' willingness to consume and pay for wild animals. Data were gathered online from 1250 household heads of both urban and rural residents of Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces of China from the 19th to March 26th, 2020. The Probit and Tobit models were employed to meet the study objectives, and the results showed that around 39% of residents were willing to consume wild animals (WCWA), and their amount of willingness to pay (AWP) was 134.65 USD/year. The mediating effects of market control & home restriction policies showed strong effects between COVID-19 and peoples' WCWA. In contrast, the results of ecological environment risk and food security risk perceptions showed relatively weaker effects. The overall results of the current study provided acumens for policymakers to raise awareness within the populations concerning the adverse upshots resulting from consuming wild animals.

Impact of COVID-19 on Residents’ Willingness to Consume Wild Animals: Empirical Insights From China (preprint)

Background: It is argued that wild animals are the culprit of transmission of COVID-19 and poor health of the people, though any evidence is not found, the government has widely publicized the risk allied with eating wild animals. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the effect of COVID-19 on residents’ willingness to consume wild animals (WCWA) and their amount of willingness to pay (AWP). Methods: Data were gathered online from 1250 household heads of both urban and rural residents of Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces during the period of 19th to 26th March 2020 and Probit and Tobit model is employed to meet the study objectives. Results: The results showed that around 39.20% of residents are willing to consume wild animals and their amount of willingness to pay was 34.65 USD/year. In the context of market control policy & home restriction policy, the mediating effect is 34.20% & 27.73% respectively. In contrast, in the context of ecological environment risk and food security risk perception, the mediating effects are 7.94% and 10.16% respectively. Conclusions: Although COVID-19 reduced the probability of residents’ WCWA, the effect on AWP was not significant. Moreover, COVID-19’s effects on residents’ WCWA through market control and home restriction policies were strong, but perceptions of the ecological environment and food safety risk were relatively weak. These results provide insights for policymakers in terms of raising public awareness of the negative consequences of consuming wild animals and increasing knowledge of the animals’ protection.