Browsing by Author "Pons, Vincent"

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    Addressing vaccine hesitancy: experimental evidence from nine high-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (BMJ Journals, 2023-09-22) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent; Profeta, Paola; McKee, Martin; Stuckler, David; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; French National Research Agency ; French region Nouvelle Aquitaine; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    We study the impact of public health messages on intentions to vaccinate and vaccination uptakes, especially among hesitant groups. We performed an experiment comparing the effects of egoistic and altruistic messages on COVID-19 vaccine intentions and behaviour. We administered different messages at random in a survey of 6379 adults in December 2020, following up with participants in the nationally representative survey Citizens' Attitudes Under COVID-19 Project covering nine high-income countries (Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the UK and the USA). Four alternative interventions were tested, based on narratives of (1) self-protection, (2) protecting others, (3) reducing health risks and (4) economic protection. We measure vaccination intentions in the December 2020 survey and elicit actual vaccination behaviour by respondents in the June/July 2021 survey. Messages conveying self-protection had no effect on vaccine intentions but altruistic messages, emphasising protecting other individuals (0.022, 95% CI -0.004 to 0.048), population health (0.030, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.056) and the economy (0.038, 95% CI 0.013 to 0.064) had substantially stronger effects. These effects were stronger in countries experiencing high COVID-19 mortality (Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, the UK and the USA), where health risks may have been more salient, but weaker and, in several cases, not significant where mortality was low (Australia, Germany and New Zealand). On follow-up at 6 months, these brief communication interventions corresponded to substantially higher vaccination uptake. Our experiments found that commonly employed narratives around self-protection had no effect. However, altruistic messages about protecting individuals, population health and the economy had substantially positive and enduring effects on increasing vaccination intentions. Our results can help structure communication campaigns during pandemics and are likely to generalise to other vaccine-preventable epidemics.
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    From Anti-vax Intentions to Vaccination: Panel and Experimental Evidence from Nine Countries
    (2022-02) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent; Profeta, Paola; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    Millions of people refuse COVID-19 vaccination. Using original data from two surveys in nine OECD countries, we analyze the determinants of anti-vax intentions in December 2020 and show that half of the anti-vax individuals were vaccinated by summer 2021. Vaccinations were more likely among individuals aged 50+, exposed to COVID-19, compliant with public restrictions, more informed on traditional media, trusting scientists, and less concerned about vaccines’ side effects. We run a survey experiment with informational messages. In EU countries, a message about protecting health largely increases vaccinations, even among anti-vax individuals. In the U.K. and U.S., a message about protecting the economy generates similar effects. Our findings suggest that informational campaigns should adopt adequate narratives and address concerns about vaccines’ side effects.
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    Gender differences in COVID-19 attitudes and behavior: Panel evidence from eight countries
    (National Academy of Sciences, 2020-11-03) Galasso, Vincenzo; Pons, Vincent ; Profeta, Paola; Becher, Michael; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial ; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    The initial public health response to the breakout of COVID-19 required fundamental changes in individual behavior, such as isolation at home or wearing masks. The effectiveness of these policies hinges on generalized public obedience. Yet, people's level of compliance may depend on their beliefs regarding the pandemic. We use original data from two waves of a survey conducted in March and April 2020 in eight Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (n = 21,649) to study gender differences in COVID-19-related beliefs and behaviors. We show that women are more likely to perceive COVID-19 as a very serious health problem, to agree with restraining public policy measures, and to comply with them. Gender differences in attitudes and behavior are sizable in all countries. They are accounted for neither by sociodemographic and employment characteristics nor by psychological and behavioral factors. They are only partially mitigated for individuals who cohabit or have direct exposure to the virus. We show that our results are not due to differential social desirability bias. This evidence has important implications for public health policies and communication on COVID-19, which may need to be gender based, and it unveils a domain of gender differences: behavioral changes in response to a new risk.
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    Government Performance and Democracy: Survey Experimental Evidence from 12 Countries during COVID-19
    (The University of Chicago Press, 2024-10) Becher, Michael; Longuet Marx, Nicolas; Pons, Vincent ; Brouard, Sylvain; Foucault, Martial; Galasso, Vincenzo; Kerrouche, Eric; León Alfonso, Sandra; Stegmueller, Daniel; https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
    Crises of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic may plausibly affect deep-seated attitudes of a large fraction of citizens. In particular, outcome-oriented theories imply that leaders’ performance in response to such adverse events shapes people’s views about the government and about democracy. To assess these causal linkages empirically, we use a preregistered survey experiment covering 12 countries and 22,500 respondents during the pandemic. Our design enables us to leverage exogenous variation in evaluations of policies and leaders with an instrumental variables strategy. We find that people use information on both health and economic performance when evaluating the government. In turn, dissatisfaction with the government decreases satisfaction with how democracy works, but it does not increase support for nondemocratic alternatives. The results suggest that comparatively bad government performance mainly spurs internal critiques of democracy.