Marketing SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines: an Opportunity to Test a Nobel Prize-Winning Theory

I want to be safe: understanding the main drivers behind vaccination choice throughout the pandemic

BACKGROUND

Despite being a major advancement in modern medicine, vaccines face widespread hesitancy and refusal, posing challenges to immunization campaigns. The COVID-19 pandemic accentuated vaccine hesitancy, emphasizing the pivotal role of beliefs in efficacy and safety on vaccine acceptance rates. This study explores the influence of efficacy and safety perceptions on vaccine uptake in Italy during the pandemic.

METHODS

We administered a 70-item questionnaire to a representative sample of 600 Italian speakers. Participants were tasked with assessing the perceived effectiveness and safety of each vaccine dose, along with providing reasons influencing their vaccination choices. Additionally, we conducted an experimental manipulation, exploring the effects of four framing messages that emphasized safety and/or efficacy on participants' willingness to receive a hypothetical fourth vaccine dose. Furthermore, participants were asked about their level of trust in the scientific community and public authorities, as well as their use of different information channels for obtaining COVID-19-related information.

RESULTS

Our study reveals a dynamic shift in vaccine efficacy and safety perceptions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially influencing vaccination compliance. Initially perceived as more effective than safe, this assessment reversed by the time of the third dose. Beliefs regarding safety, rather than efficacy, played a significant role in anticipating future vaccinations (e.g., the booster dose). Safety-focused messages positively affected vaccination intent, while efficacy-focused messages showed limited impact. We also observed a changing trend in reasons for vaccination, with a decline in infection-related reasons and an increase in social related ones. Furthermore, trust dynamics evolved differently for public authorities and the scientific community.

CONCLUSIONS

Vaccine perception is a dynamic process shaped by evolving factors like efficacy and safety perceptions, trust levels, and individual motivations. Our study sheds light on the complex dynamics that underlie the perception of vaccine safety and efficacy, and their impact on willingness to vaccinate. We discuss these results in light of bounded rationality, loss aversion and classic utility theory.

Role of leadership and incentive-based programs in addressing vaccine hesitancy in India

The current study goes beyond the popular 5Cs model of vaccine hesitancy to explore perceived social norms, role of leadership and the role of incentive-based intervention for improving the likelihood of vaccination, in a population-representative sample of adults in India (N = 1129). We investigated differences in socio-demographic status, perceived descriptive norms like vaccine behaviours, beliefs, experience and perceived injunctive norms like community and political leadership within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic are related to vaccination. Further, we examined the role of incentive-based intervention as a potentially salient predictor of adults' vaccine uptake. The study is based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in July-November 2021, which included questions about impacts of pandemic collected by phone call interview from adults' beneficiaries of Government free food schemes, across 11 states in India. The data include 81 % vaccinated and 19 % vaccine hesitant participants, with a higher proportion of business or self-employed (53.1 %) as vaccine hesitant. We performed the t-test to assess the variation between vaccinated and vaccine hesitant adults, and Exploratory Factor Analysis to uncover the underlying dimension of vaccine hesitancy. Subsequently, Binary Logistic Regression model probed the factors associated with likelihood of vaccination uptake. In contrast to the prevailing evidence, results demonstrated community and political leadership has significant negative impact on vaccination (p-value < 0.06, 95 % CI, 0.57-1.01). Incentive-based intervention offer a vital leverage to enhance positive attitude towards vaccination (p-value < 0.05, 95 % CI, 1.01-1.80). The results thus broadly highlight the limited role of political and community leaders in leveraging their influence on vaccination, the role of timely, accurate information, applications of telemedicine as an important tool to provide healthcare and the need for optimal design of incentive-based vaccination programs recommended by trusted sources.

The Use of Prospect Theory for Energy Sustainable Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 challenges facilities entrepreneurs to be competitive in the market in terms of energy by rational decision making. The goal of the paper is aimed at introducing Prospect Theory (PT) in Industry 4.0 for making decisions in order to select an optimal energy technology. To reach this goal, an approach for decision making on energy investment has been developed. In this paper, the authors have also provided a new opportunity to apply the new decision making method for strengthening Industry 4.0 by addressing energy concerns based on which rational decisions have been made. The study uses a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process for weighting the evaluation sub-criteria of energy technologies and a modified PT for making decisions related to the selection of one of the investigated technologies. The results show that it is possible to implement PT in Industry 4.0 via a decision making model for energy sustainability. Decision probability was achieved using a behavioral approach akin to Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) for the considered technology options. More specifically, the probability has created the same threshold-based decision possibilities. The authors used the case study method based on a company located in North America which produces hardwood lumber. The company uses a heating system containing natural gas-fired boilers. This study has also contributed to the literature on energy sustainable Industry 4.0 by demonstrating a new phenomenon/paradigm for energy sustainability-based Industry 4.0 through using PT. In this context, the main motivation of writing the article has been to promote energy sustainability via complex mechanisms and systems that involve interrelated functions.