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Heard immunity: effective persuasion for a future COVID-19 vaccine

General Information

Title
Heard immunity: effective persuasion for a future COVID-19 vaccine
Author
Nicolas Duquette
Publication Type
Working paper
Outlet
Sol Price School of Public Policy
Year
2020
Abstract
A survey experiment exposes treatment groups to four messages supporting future vaccination against COVID-19. These treatments emphasize either the risks of the virus or the safety of vaccination, to the respondent personally or to others. For a nationally representative sample, self-reported intent to vaccinate is not significantly different from the control for any message. However, there is a substantial divergence between white non-Hispanic respondents, whose response to all four treatments is close to zero, and non-white or Hispanic respondents, whose intention to vaccinate is over 50% higher in response to a message emphasizing pro-sociality and the safety of others.