TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative effectiveness of mandates and financial policies targeting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
T2 - A randomized, controlled survey experiment
AU - Fishman, Jessica
AU - Salmon, Mandy K.
AU - Scheitrum, Daniel
AU - Aleks Schaefer, K.
AU - Robertson, Christopher T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/12/5
Y1 - 2022/12/5
N2 - Experts debate whether COVID-19 vaccine mandates or financial incentives will reduce, rather than increase, interest in vaccination. Among 3,698 unvaccinated U.S. residents, we conducted a randomized, controlled survey-embedded experiment to estimate the absolute and relative psychological effects of vaccine policies specifying: mandates by employers or airlines, bars, and restaurants; lotteries for $1 million, $200,000, or $100,000; guaranteed cash for $1000, $200, or $100; and $1,000 as either a tax credit or penalty. Vaccine intention —the study outcome— predicts uptake and provides insight into the psychological mechanism that is most proximal to behavior (i.e., vaccination). Compared to controls, those who learned about the $1,000 cash reward policy were 17.1 (±5.3)% more likely to want vaccination. Employer mandates are more promising than other mandate policies (8.6 [+/- 7.4]% vs. 1.4 [+/- 6.0]%). The full results suggest that neither mandates nor financial incentives are likely to have counterproductive psychological effects. These policies are not mutually exclusive and, if implemented well, they may increase vaccine uptake.
AB - Experts debate whether COVID-19 vaccine mandates or financial incentives will reduce, rather than increase, interest in vaccination. Among 3,698 unvaccinated U.S. residents, we conducted a randomized, controlled survey-embedded experiment to estimate the absolute and relative psychological effects of vaccine policies specifying: mandates by employers or airlines, bars, and restaurants; lotteries for $1 million, $200,000, or $100,000; guaranteed cash for $1000, $200, or $100; and $1,000 as either a tax credit or penalty. Vaccine intention —the study outcome— predicts uptake and provides insight into the psychological mechanism that is most proximal to behavior (i.e., vaccination). Compared to controls, those who learned about the $1,000 cash reward policy were 17.1 (±5.3)% more likely to want vaccination. Employer mandates are more promising than other mandate policies (8.6 [+/- 7.4]% vs. 1.4 [+/- 6.0]%). The full results suggest that neither mandates nor financial incentives are likely to have counterproductive psychological effects. These policies are not mutually exclusive and, if implemented well, they may increase vaccine uptake.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.05.073
DO - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.05.073
M3 - Article
C2 - 35914961
AN - SCOPUS:85141941005
SN - 0264-410X
VL - 40
SP - 7451
EP - 7459
JO - Vaccine
JF - Vaccine
IS - 51
ER -