Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy : Survey and Experimental Evidence from Papua New Guinea
This paper examines the drivers of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and tests various means of increasing people’s willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The study draws on data collected through a broadly representative phone survey with 2,533 respo...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/293831636115205584/Addressing-Vaccine-Hesitancy-Survey-and-Experimental-Evidence-from-Papua-New-Guinea http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36549 |
| Summary: | This paper examines the drivers of
COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and tests various means of
increasing people’s willingness to receive a COVID-19
vaccine. The study draws on data collected through a broadly
representative phone survey with 2,533 respondents and an
online randomized survey experiment with 2,392 participants
in Papua New Guinea. Both surveys show that less than 20
percent of the respondents who were aware a vaccine existed
were willing to be vaccinated. The main reason respondents
stated for their hesitancy regarding the vaccine was concern
about side effects; however, the majority also said health
workers could change their mind, particularly if information
was communicated in person. The phone survey illustrated
that people’s level of trust in the vaccine and their
beliefs about the behavior of others are strongly associated
with their intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine. In contrast,
people’s concern about COVID-19, most trusted source of
information (including social media), and vaccination
history were unrelated to their intention to get vaccinated.
The online experiment showed that a message that emphasized
the relative safety of the vaccine by highlighting that
severe side effects are rare, while also emphasizing the
dangers of COVID-19, increased intention to get vaccinated
by around 50 percent. Collectively, these results suggest
that policy makers would be well placed to direct their
efforts to boosting the general population’s trust that
getting vaccinated substantially reduces the risk of severe
illness or death from COVID-19. |
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