COVID-19 vaccination, risk-compensatory behaviours, and contacts in the UK

Abstract

The physiological effects of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) are well documented, yet the behavioural effects not well known. Risk compensation suggests that gains in personal safety, as a result of vaccination, are offset by increases in risky behaviour, such as socialising, commuting and working outside the home. This is potentially important because transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by contacts, which could be amplified by vaccine-related risk compensation. Here, we show that behaviours were overall unrelated to personal vaccination, but—adjusting for variation in mitigation policies—were responsive to the level of vaccination in the wider population: individuals in the UK were risk compensating when rates of vaccination were rising. This effect was observed across four nations of the UK, each of which varied policies autonomously.

Risk of Testing Positive for COVID-19 among Healthcare and Healthcare-Related Workers

“…We also observed, in the bivariate analysis, that the proportion of vaccinated subjects was higher among individuals with a positive test result compared to those who were negative (56.7% vs. 50.5%, p = 0.004). We hypothesize that this finding may be associated with risk-compensatory behaviors, such as increased socialization during lockdown and misuse of non-pharmacological interventions such as facemasks, among vaccinated individuals, as has been previously described [20]. However, in the multiple model, we found that vaccination was associated with a reduced risk of testing positive (RR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.99, p = 0.015).…”

Post-peak mpox in England: epidemiology, reinfection, and vaccine effectiveness – data from 2023

“…The similar VE may reflect differences in risk behaviour in those who came forward for a second dose of vaccine as they may also be more likely to come into contact with the monkeypox virus. This phenomenon of risk compensation has been suggested with other emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19, particularly if behaviour modification associated with vaccination status occurs (13) (14). Increased awareness of the effectiveness of the MVA-BN vaccine and associated reduction in fear of mpox since the rollout of the vaccination programme may have also played a part.…”

Symptomatic COVID-19 in University Students: A School-Wide Web-Based Questionnaire Survey during the Omicron Variant Outbreak

“…In this evolutionarily carved landscape, efforts to find the effective solution for infection control should be continued. Without such efforts, vaccination-rate-based risk compensation [4] may promote the virus survival.…”