The Vaccine Optimism Effect: Why Vaccine News Might Reduce Social Distancing
The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has struck with absolute ferocity, leaving many countries straining to cope under the pressure of exponential viral spread. Containing this spread has called for societal cohesion on a huge, unprecedented scale. Globally, citizens have been asked to abide by relatively novel social distancing and stay-at-home recommendations. Such requests, alongside the constantly shifting nature of government restrictions and public health advice, have left many grappling with “pandemic fatigue,”1 where their depleted self-control resources mean that they are much less likely to comply with the recommended pandemic mitigation strategies.
Yet, with the continued success of global vaccination rollouts and consequent easing of lockdown restrictions, pandemic fatigue may be on the decline as people gradually regain some sense of normalcy in their lives. Indeed, promising early data on the successes of current vaccination campaigns has instilled a vestige of hope in people of a long-awaited end to the pandemic.2 However, set against this atmosphere of renewed hope is yet another behavioral bias with potentially catastrophic, pandemic-prolonging effects.
References
- Zerbe, K. J. (2020). Pandemic Fatigue: Facing the Body’s Inexorable Demands in the Time of COVID-19. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 68(3), 475–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003065120938774
- Krammer, F. (2020). SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in development. Nature, 586(7830), 516-527.
- Martínez, D., Parilli, C., Scartascini, C., & Simpser, A. (2021). Let’s (not) get together! The role of social norms on social distancing during COVID-19. PLOS ONE, 16(3), e0247454. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247454
- Yuen, K. S. L., & Lee, T. M. C. (2003). Could mood state affect risk-taking decisions? Journal of Affective Disorders, 75(1), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-0327(02)00022-8
- Hacimusalar, Y., Kahve, A. C., Yasar, A. B., & Aydin, M. S. (2020). Anxiety and hopelessness levels in COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative study of healthcare professionals and other community sample in Turkey. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 129, 181–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.07.024
- Andersson, O., Campos-Mercade, P., Meier, A., & Wengström, E. (2021). Anticipation of COVID-19 Vaccines Reduces Social Distancing (IFN Working Paper No. 1378). Research Institute of Industrial Economics. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3765329
- Makris, M. & Toxvaerd, F. (2020). Great Expectations: Social Distancing in Anticipation of Pharmaceutical Innovations (Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2097). Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
- Bonnell, C., Michie, S., Reicher, S., West, R., Bear, L., Yardley, L., Curtis, V., Amlot, R, & Rubin, G. J. (2020). Harnessing behavioral science in public health campaigns to maintain ‘social distancing’ in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: key principles. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 74, 617-619. 10.1136/jech-2020-214290.
- Reicher, S., & Drury, J. (2021). Pandemic fatigue? How adherence to covid-19 regulations has been misrepresented and why it matters. BMJ, 372, n137. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n137
- Center for Disease Control. (2021, April 28). Key Things to Know About COVID-19 Vaccines. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html
- Stankiewicz, K. (2021, January 6). Dr. Scott Gottlieb: Getting Covid vaccine doesn’t mean people can just return to pre-pandemic life. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/covid-vaccine-dr-scott-gottlieb-says-getting-it-doesnt-mean-return-to-pre-covid-life.html
About the Author
Natalie Tham
Natalie Tham is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher and is currently pursuing her PhD in digital behaviour change interventions at Trinity College Dublin. Her current interests lie at the intersection of behavioural science and health psychology, though her research spans across the domains of moral psychology, experimental economics, and social psychology. More broadly, she hopes to use behavioural science to improve individual wellbeing and enhance societal cohesion. Natalie holds an MSc (Distinction) in Applied Psychology and Economic Behaviour and a BSc (First Class Honours) in Psychology, both from the University of Bath.
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