Updated beliefs and shaken confidence: evidence from vaccine hesitancy caused by experiencing "COVID arm".

ABSTRACT:

Background

Public health depends largely on people's knowledge, beliefs, or behaviors regarding their health and medical treatments. Although works based on the health belief model have shown that public beliefs about medical treatments affect willingness to take the treatments, little is known about the effects of changes in beliefs on attitudes toward treatment. How one's past experiences relate to one's beliefs about a given medical treatment is worth considering.

Methods

We implemented an online panel survey in February 2021 and March 2022 in Japan before and after COVID-19 vaccines were administered to the public within the country. We exploited delayed localized hypersensitivity reactions to COVID-19 vaccines, namely, "COVID arm", as an exogenous shock to investigate t

SUBMITTER: Fukai T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10507958 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature