Leong Ching, Jin Lawrence, Kim Dayoung, Kim Jeongbin, Teo Yik Ying, Ho Teck-Hua
Office of the Senior Deputy President and Provost, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Commun Med (Lond). 2022 May 31;2:61. doi: 10.1038/s43856-022-00123-6. eCollection 2022.
Public hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines remains a major hurdle for mass vaccination programs today. While mRNA vaccines are more efficacious than conventional vaccines, it is unknown how much the novelty of this technology increases hesitancy.
We quantify this "novelty penalty" in a large online experiment with 35,173 adults in nine countries. Subjects were randomly selected and assigned to one of two vaccine groups (conventional or mRNA), and one of five hypothetical inoculation rate groups (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%). Subjects reported their willingness to accept the Covid-19 vaccine on a five-point Likert scale.
The novelty of the mRNA vaccine technology reduces the odds of a higher level of vaccine acceptance by 14.2% (odds ratio 0.858; < 0.001). On the other hand, we find that social conformity reduces vaccine hesitancy. At a 0% inoculation rate, 31.7% report that they are "very likely" to get a mRNA vaccine while at a 20% inoculation rate, willingness jumps to 49.6%.
The novelty of the mRNA vaccine increases hesitancy, but social conformity reduces it. A small group of early adopters can provide momentum for vaccination.
公众对新冠疫苗的犹豫态度仍是当今大规模疫苗接种计划的主要障碍。虽然信使核糖核酸（mRNA）疫苗比传统疫苗更有效，但这项技术的新颖性会增加多少犹豫情绪尚不清楚。
我们在一项针对九个国家35173名成年人的大型在线实验中对这种“新颖性惩罚”进行了量化。受试者被随机挑选并分配到两个疫苗组之一（传统疫苗组或mRNA疫苗组），以及五个假设接种率组之一（0%、20%、40%、60%或80%）。受试者用五点李克特量表报告他们接受新冠疫苗的意愿。
mRNA疫苗技术的新颖性使更高水平疫苗接受度的几率降低了14.2%（优势比为0.858；P<0.001）。另一方面，我们发现社会从众性会降低疫苗犹豫情绪。在接种率为0%时，31.7%的人表示他们“非常有可能”接种mRNA疫苗，而在接种率为20%时，意愿跃升至49.6%。
mRNA疫苗的新颖性增加了犹豫情绪，但社会从众性会降低这种情绪。一小群早期采用者可以为疫苗接种提供动力。
