Efficacy information influences intention to take COVID-19 vaccine

Colin Davis, Matt Golding, Ryan McKay

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objectives

A successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires achievinghigh levels of vaccine uptake. We tested whether directly contrasting the highefficacy of COVID-19 vaccines with the lower efficacy of the annual flu vaccinewould increase intentions to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Design

A pre-registered online study of 481 participants compared fourinformation conditions: a) No Information, b) COVID-19 Vaccine InformationOnly, and COVID-19 Vaccine Information combined with Flu Vaccine Informationsuggesting either c) 60% efficacy or d) 40% efficacy; we measured COVID-19 andflu 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 haveintermediate levels of vaccine hesitancy. After reading a short text (~200words) about COVID-19 vaccines participants were asked about their vaccinationintentions.

Results Providing information about thesafety and efficacy of the new COVID-19 vaccines resulted in vaccinationintentions that were significantly higher than those in the No Informationcondition; providing the same COVID vaccine efficacy information in the contextof information about flu vaccine efficacy resulted in a further significantincrease in vaccination intentions. This positive contrast effect for theCOVID-19 vaccine was not associated with reduced flu vaccine intentions.

Conclusions

Vaccination intentions can be strengthened through a simplemessaging intervention that utilises context effects to increase perceivedresponse efficacy.

 

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Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)300–319
JournalBritish Journal of Health Psychology
Volume27
Issue number2
Early online date11 Jul 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

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