TY - JOUR
T1 - Are we ready for the next pandemic? Public preferences and trade-offs between vaccine characteristics and societal restrictions across 21 countries
AU - Antonini, Marcello
AU - Genie, Mesfin G.
AU - Attwell, Katie
AU - Attema, Arthur E.
AU - Ward, Jeremy K.
AU - Melegaro, Alessia
AU - Torbica, Aleksandra
AU - Kelly, Brian
AU - Berardi, Chiara
AU - Sequeira, Ana Rita
AU - McGregor, Neil
AU - Kellner, Adrian
AU - Brammli-Greenberg, Shuli
AU - Hinwood, Madeleine
AU - Murauskienė, Liubovė
AU - Behmane, Daiga
AU - Balogh, Zsolt J.
AU - Hagen, Terje P.
AU - Paolucci, Francesco
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors
PY - 2025/1
Y1 - 2025/1
N2 - In vaccination decisions, individuals must weigh the benefits against the risks of remaining unvaccinated and potentially facing social restrictions. Previous studies have focused on individual preferences for vaccine characteristics and societal restrictions separately. This study aims to quantify public preferences and the potential trade-offs between vaccine characteristics and societal restrictions, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates, in the context of a future pandemic. We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) involving 47,114 respondents from 21 countries between July 2022 and June 2023 through an online panel. Participants were presented with choices between two hypothetical vaccination programs and an option to opt-out. A latent class logit model was used to estimate trade-offs among attributes. Despite some level of preference heterogeneity across countries and respondents’ profiles, we consistently identified three classes of respondents: vaccine refusers, vaccine-hesitant, and pro-vaccine individuals. Vaccine attributes were generally deemed more important than societal restriction attributes. We detected strong preferences for the highest levels of vaccine effectiveness and for domestically produced vaccines across most countries. Being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 was the strongest predictor of pro-vaccine class preferences. Women and younger people were more likely to be vaccine refusers compared to men and older individuals. In some countries, vaccine hesitancy and refusal were linked to lower socioeconomic status, whereas in others, individuals with higher education and higher income were more likely to exhibit hesitancy. Our findings emphasize the need for tailored vaccination programs that consider local contexts and demographics. Building trust in national regulatory authorities and international organizations through targeted communication, along with investing in domestic production facilities, can improve vaccine uptake and enhance public health responses in the future.
AB - In vaccination decisions, individuals must weigh the benefits against the risks of remaining unvaccinated and potentially facing social restrictions. Previous studies have focused on individual preferences for vaccine characteristics and societal restrictions separately. This study aims to quantify public preferences and the potential trade-offs between vaccine characteristics and societal restrictions, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates, in the context of a future pandemic. We conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) involving 47,114 respondents from 21 countries between July 2022 and June 2023 through an online panel. Participants were presented with choices between two hypothetical vaccination programs and an option to opt-out. A latent class logit model was used to estimate trade-offs among attributes. Despite some level of preference heterogeneity across countries and respondents’ profiles, we consistently identified three classes of respondents: vaccine refusers, vaccine-hesitant, and pro-vaccine individuals. Vaccine attributes were generally deemed more important than societal restriction attributes. We detected strong preferences for the highest levels of vaccine effectiveness and for domestically produced vaccines across most countries. Being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 was the strongest predictor of pro-vaccine class preferences. Women and younger people were more likely to be vaccine refusers compared to men and older individuals. In some countries, vaccine hesitancy and refusal were linked to lower socioeconomic status, whereas in others, individuals with higher education and higher income were more likely to exhibit hesitancy. Our findings emphasize the need for tailored vaccination programs that consider local contexts and demographics. Building trust in national regulatory authorities and international organizations through targeted communication, along with investing in domestic production facilities, can improve vaccine uptake and enhance public health responses in the future.
KW - DCE
KW - Non-pharmaceutical interventions
KW - Pandemic
KW - Vaccine mandate
KW - Vaccine nationalism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85215423840&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/ccad13f1-3523-3162-9ce1-a6efd672d7eb/
U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117687
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117687
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85215423840
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 366
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
M1 - 117687
ER -