Efficacy information influences intention to take COVID-19 vaccine.
Br J Health Psychol
; 27(2): 300-319, 2022 05.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1305463
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
A successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires achieving high levels of vaccine uptake. We tested whether directly contrasting the high efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines with the lower efficacy of the annual flu vaccine would increase intentions to take a COVID-19 vaccine.DESIGN:
A pre-registered online study of 481 participants compared four information conditions (1) no information; (2) COVID-19 Vaccine Information Only; and COVID-19 Vaccine Information combined with flu vaccine information suggesting either (3) 60% efficacy or (4) 40% efficacy; we measured COVID-19 and flu vaccine intentions along with several other vaccine-related variables.METHODS:
The Prolific platform was used to recruit 481 UK participants (64% female; aged between 18 and 85 years) who had been pre-screened to have intermediate levels of vaccine hesitancy. After reading a short text (~200 words) about COVID-19 vaccines, participants were asked about their vaccination intentions.RESULTS:
Providing information about the safety and efficacy of the new COVID-19 vaccines resulted in vaccination intentions that were, on average, 0.39 standard deviations (SDs) higher than those in the no information condition; providing the same COVID vaccine efficacy information in the context of information about flu vaccine efficacy resulted in a further significant increase in vaccination intentions that were 0.68 SD higher than those in the no information condition. This positive contrast effect for the COVID-19 vaccine was not associated with reduced flu vaccine intentions.CONCLUSIONS:
Vaccination intentions can be strengthened through a simple messaging intervention that utilizes context effects to increase perceived response efficacy.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Influenza Vaccines
/
COVID-19
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Br J Health Psychol
Journal subject:
Psychology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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