Vaccine hesitancy and monetary incentives

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy is a significant barrier to reaching herd immunity and exiting the Covid-19 pandemic. This study examines the potential effectiveness of monetary incentives in conjunction with informational treatments about vaccine efficacy, lack of side effects, and zero costs. We elicit monetary valuations (both positive and negative) for the coronavirus vaccine by conducting an online randomized experiment on a representative sample of 2461 individuals across the US. The study elicits vaccination uptake, then participants’ valuations (willingness to pay (WTP) or the willingness to accept (WTA)) for the vaccine based upon the stated choice of participants to accept or reject the vaccine. We find that a $1000 incentive increases vaccination uptake up to 86.9%. We identify two distinct segments among the vaccine hesitants—“Reluctants” and “Unwillings”. Reluctants can be persuaded to vaccinate for some level of monetary incentive, whereas Unwillings indicate that no amount of monetary incentive will persuade them to vaccinate. The Unwillings are more likely to (a) think that the disease is insufficiently severe, (b) have less faith in the public health system, (c) be older, compared to the Reluctants.