Does Framing Coronavirus in Terms of Disparities Reduce Vaccine Hesitancy?

• In Event: COVID-19 and Disparities (Pre-Recorded)

Abstract

Black and Latinx populations across the United States have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality. Race-ethnic minorities also experience more longstanding and justified distrust of the medical community, which could serve to prolong the pandemic effects in the most vulnerable communities by contributing to reduced vaccine uptake. As the vaccine roll-out continues in the US, policymakers are looking for ways to increase vaccine confidence and uptake, particularly in more hesitant populations. This study asks how popular representations of race-ethnic disparities in Coronavirus cases and deaths impacts vaccine hesitancy in a racially diverse sample of New Yorkers. Using a survey experiment, respondents were randomized to receive a newspaper prime recommending minority prioritization for vaccination acknowledging historical racism versus a control article without a minority prioritization focus. We find no effects of the prime on respondents’ intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 altogether and interacted with race-ethnicity. We explore correlates of vaccine hesitancy and find that while African-Americans are more vaccine hesitant than other race-ethnic groups, identifying politically as an independent, being female and watching alternative news media are each stronger predictors of hesitancy. Qualitatively examining reasons for hesitancy or confidence, we find that conspiracy beliefs do not figure prominently in people’s vaccine hesitancy, but rather more quotidian (and legitimate) concerns about the speed of the development process and generalized lack of trust in the political and scientific institutions producing the vaccine contributing to a desire to “wait and see.” We conclude that strong hesitancy views may be relatively fixed and difficult to change at least with simple messaging campaigns among a segment of the population that holds longstanding deep-seated skepticism towards established institutions (justified or not). However, weaker hesitancy views may give way to willingness relative quickly as more people take the vaccine.

Authors

• Ashley M Fox, SUNY at Albany

• Heather Elisabeth Lanthorn, IDinsight

• Yongjin Choi, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

• Kevin Croke, Harvard School of Public Health