Market segmentation strategies can be used to overcome COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and other health crises.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact everyone to some degree, it has become clear that experts from many disparate fields must work together to overcome such public health crises. Even now, a significant portion of U.S. residents remain hesitant to receive a vaccine. In the quest to safely return to a fully open economy, time is of the essence, as many lives and livelihoods can be saved by even marginal improvements in vaccination rates. To reach widespread immunization sooner, science stands to benefit by using market segmentation strategies with vaccine holdouts, much like brands do with customers. As evidence, we present results from a national survey segmented into four groups of COVID-19 vaccine holdouts. When viewed and considered as separate segments, important distinctions regarding the nature and strength of reasons behind COVID-19 vaccine aversion, and the solutions to which people are most open, become clearer.