Boosting citizens’ vaccination decision-making using effective communication - VaccineComm

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Freia De Bock; Dr. Mirjam Jenny; Dr. Felix Rebitschek
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 458303980

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on public life worldwide, and there are high hopes for the development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to help curb the spread of the virus. The effectiveness of a vaccine will substantially depend on its uptake. Yet, many people may be highly uncertain in their decision to get vaccinated because SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development is being expedited by combining different clinical trial phases or through human challenge trials. Comprehensive evidence on side effects will only be available after the vaccine will have been rolled out. Consequently, many people may feel they have a lack of information about the vaccines’ safety, or mistrust the decision processes of public health authorities responsible for approving the vaccine. Communications about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine/s will therefore not only need to communicate about risks and benefits but also their safety, testing and development process in order to promote transparency and trust in the decisions made by public health authorities.This proposal addresses vaccination hesitancy by developing tools that (i) apply evidence-based principles for communicating the risks, benefits and uncertainties of vaccines; (ii) make use of peoples’ social networks to show the benefits of herd immunity, (iii) build trust in science and public health authorities by openly communicating uncertainties in the scientific process, and (iv) are sensitive to regional and cultural differences. All four projects are empirical projects that investigate which communications work best, how specific communications impact risk perception, knowledge about the vaccine, intention to vaccinate, and trust in institutions, and how they might need to be adapted to cultural and regional specificities. These findings can be used to boost individual decision making on vaccinations (enhance competencies while preserving autonomy); and may generalize to related decisions such as getting tested for the virus or antibodies.This project is part of the proposal package MULTIPAN (“Multidisciplinary research consortium on preventing and curbing pandemic outbreaks”), an international work programme that benefits from the expertise, feedback and integration of results by PIs and collaborators from multiple disciplines. Ultimately, our results will inform Germany’s national strategy to inform the public about the COVID-19 vaccine(s), foster informed decision making and increase trust in the vaccine. Together with our international collaborators we aim at improving vaccine communication globally and limit the spread of SARS-CoV2.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Norway, United Kingdom
• Co-Investigators: Michelle McDowell, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Lothar H. Wieler
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Stephan Lewandowsky, Ph.D.; Jasper Littmann, Ph.D.