sharing covid-19 ‘bereavement experiences’ encourages people to get vaccinated

according to new research, people are more likely to get the covid vaccine if they have personal experience with the virus.

by dave yasvinski

published feb 06, 2023

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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sharing covid stories can increase vaccination rates

"hearing about the experiences of a trusted person, such as a friend or a family member, can be more effective than vaccine mandates,” said saurabh kalra, lead author of the study. getty

a new study has found that best way to convince people to get vaccinated against covid may be to turn your personal experiences into a cautionary tale. the research, published in the journal vaccine, found that people who knew someone who became sick or died after contracting the disease were twice as likely to roll up their sleeves than those who did not. it also revealed that some people can be just as easily swayed in the opposite direction.

“this study shows that the messenger matters more than the message: hearing about the experiences of a trusted person, such as a friend or a family member, can be more effective than vaccine mandates,” said saurabh kalra, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the rutgers school of public health. “a corollary to this finding is that an influential public figure whom people admire and trust can adversely impact public health if they share misinformation such as the disease is harmless or the vaccines are harmful or unnecessary.”

the study, which involved just under 1,200 people who were eligible to receive the vaccine from april 7 to april 12, 2021, took place shortly after the u.s. food and drug administration issued an emergency-use authorization (eua) for the pfizer and moderna vaccines. the team focused on people who had family members or friends who had recovered from the virus, were still sick or had died following infection and had received one dose of the vaccine.

they found that essential workers and people with good or better health status were more likely to get vaccinated within four months of the eua, as were older individuals with higher income or education levels. respondents who knew someone who had fallen ill or died from the disease were twice as likely to have received their first dose.

“these findings should encourage people to share stories about their covid-19 illness and bereavement experiences with their friends and family as well as through social media as it may motivate people to be vaccinated,” said irina grafova, co-author of the study a health economist at rutgers school of public health. “it also can help public health professionals design educational strategies to improve calls to action for vaccination.”

according to researchers, renewed efforts are required to increase uptake among younger adults and those with lower levels of education or living in lower-income households, the groups most likely to not have been vaccinated in the four months following the eua. for these populations and others, the study suggests that peer pressure may be a more effective tactic than scientific data.

“most health behaviours, including exercise, smoking and drug use, are subject to peer influence, so it is not surprising that vaccine use is also socially patterned,” said paul duberstein, co-author of the study and chair and professor in the department of health behaviour, society and policy at rutgers school of public health. “we need to stop acting like people rationally make vaccine decisions by themselves based on a careful weighting of the evidence.”

according to the latest numbers, canada has experienced 4,550,256 total cases of covid-19 and 50,380 deaths. just over 83 per cent of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca

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