Altruism and vaccination intentions: Evidence from behavioral experiments

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy has been on the rise throughout much of the world for the past two decades. At the same time, existing pro-vaccination public health communication strategies have proven ineffective. We present a novel approach to increase vaccination intentions, which appeals to individuals' other-regarding preferences. Specifically, we assess how vaccination intentions are influenced by the presence of people who cannot vaccinate, such as the immunosuppressed, newborns or pregnant women, using a game where there is a passive player whose welfare depends on the decisions of other, active players. Results from a survey experiment targeting parents and from a laboratory experiment provide support for a twofold positive effect of the presence of the passive player on vaccination intentions. These findings suggest messages that invoke altruistic, other-regarding preferences may be an effective approach to increasing vaccination intentions. Our findings could be extended to other campaigns where the population is invited to adopt behaviors that can help the most susceptible people, as is the case of the self-quarantine measures adopted during the outbreak of CoVID-19 at the beginning of 2020. If the attention of people is focused on the positive effect that they can have on those that cannot protect themselves, then the message may be more effective and people may be more responsive.

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