Anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines reduces willingness to socially distance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2021.102530Get rights and content
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open access

Abstract

We investigate how the anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines affects voluntary social distancing. In a large-scale preregistered survey experiment with a representative sample, we study whether providing information about the safety, effectiveness, and availability of COVID-19 vaccines affects the willingness to comply with public health guidelines. We find that vaccine information reduces peoples’ voluntary social distancing, adherence to hygiene guidelines, and their willingness to stay at home. Getting positive information on COVID-19 vaccines induces people to believe in a swifter return to normal life. The results indicate an important behavioral drawback of successful vaccine development: An increased focus on vaccines can lower compliance with public health guidelines and accelerate the spread of infectious disease. The results imply that, as vaccinations roll out and the end of a pandemic feels closer, policies aimed at increasing social distancing will be less effective, and stricter policies might be required.

Keywords

Vaccine information
Social distancing
Vaccination
Information
Economic epidemiology
Public health communication

JEL Codes

I12
I18
D83
D91

Cited by (0)

We thank Florian Schneider, seminar participants at the University of Basel, and conference participants at the John Hopkins University and London School of Economics Conference on Experimental Insights from Behavioral Economics on COVID-19 for helpful comments. Campos-Mercade acknowledges funding from the Danish National Research Foundation grant DNRF134 (CEBI). Armando Meier is thankful for funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation Grant PZ00P1_201956. We are thankful for financial support from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Handelsbankens forskningsstiftelse.