Encouraging COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Through Effective Health Communication

Abstract

Context: Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic will require most Americans to vaccinate against the virus. Unfortunately, previous research suggests that many Americans plan to refuse a vaccine; thereby jeopardizing collective immunity. We investigate the effectiveness of three different health communication frames hypothesized to increase vaccine intention; emphasizing either 1) personal health risks, 2) economic costs, or 3) collective public health consequences of not vaccinating.Methods: In a large (N = 7,064) and demographically representative survey experiment, we randomly assigned respondents to read pro-vaccine communication materials featuring one of the frames listed above. We also randomly varied the message source (ordinary people vs. medical experts) and availability of information designed the “pre-bunk” potential misinformation about expedited clinical trial safety.Findings: We find that messages emphasizing the personal health risks and collective health consequences of not vaccinating significantly increase Americans’ intentions to vaccinate. These effects are similar in magnitude irrespective of message source, and the inclusion of pre-bunking information. Surprisingly, economic cost frames have no discernible effect on vaccine intention. Additionally, despite sharp partisan polarization in public vaccination intentions, we find that these effects are no different for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike.Conclusion: Health communicators hoping to encourage vaccination may be effective by appealing to the use personal and collective health risks of not vaccinating.

Predictors of Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine: Cross-Sectional Study of Palestinian Dental Students

“…A study that was conducted in the United States about the uptake of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) has shown that individuals' engagement with anti-vaccine messages on social media has a negative impact on their intentions to get vaccinated [58]. Literature on health communication has shown that emphasizing the benefits of partaking in health behavior rather than portraying the harms of refusing to take the health behavior and focusing on the immediate and personalized benefits rather than distant societal benefits are more effective in delivering health promotion messages [59].…”

Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication

“…Thus, tailoring messages to different hesitancy drivers is a guiding strategic communication principle for all health communication. A recent experimental survey argued that framing the issue as a matter of personal and collective health risk had a positive effect (Motta et al, 2021). The herd community argument has been shown to reduce vaccine hesitancy in other populations too (Schwarzinger et al, 2021).…”

Effect of information about COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and side effects on behavioural intentions: two online experiments

“…Previous research on hesitancy towards other vaccines (Betsch et al, 2017;Betsch & Böhm, 2018) and preliminary studies on COVID-19 vaccine intentions (Motta et al, 2021;Williams et al, 2020) suggest that this framing may be effective in increasing vaccine acceptance. As more evidence of the effect of vaccination on transmission becomes available, researchers should investigate the how communicating such evidence impacts vaccine attitudes and intentions.…”

“…However, no control group was included in the study-leaving it unclear which interventions shifted beliefs relative to a baseline. In another messaging experiment, Motta et al (2021) report that messages framed to emphasise the collective benefits of vaccination or the risks of not vaccinating increased participants' vaccine intentions-however the presence or absence of information about the rigorousness of clinical trials had no impact on intentions. Palm et al (2021) find that messages highlighting vaccine efficacy and safety had a marginally significant effect on vaccine intentions relative to a control group, while an opposite message claiming planned vaccines were neither effective nor safe had no main effect on intentions.…”