Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2020Online Competition between Pro- and Anti-Vaccination Views
Distrust in scientific expertise is dangerous. Opposition to vaccination with a future vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, …
Distrust in scientific expertise is dangerous. Opposition to vaccination with a future vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the causal agent of COVID-19, for example, could amplify outbreaks as happened for measles in 2019. Homemade remedies and falsehoods are being shared widely on the Internet, as well as dismissals of expert advice. There is a lack of understanding about how this distrust evolves at the system level. Authors provide a map of the contention surrounding vaccines that has…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Policy/Regulation | Health Systems | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2023Benefits and Costs of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations …
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for U.S. federal employees and healthcare and private sector workers. These mandates were controversial and some were halted by litigation. If they had been implemented as intended, the net benefits would depend on the course of the pandemic. If a more transmissible variant (such as Omicron) emerges, the net benefits may be large. If the pandemic instead fades, the benefits…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Business/Industry | Policy/Regulation | Infectious Diseases | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021National Academies Work Helps Foster an Evidence-Based Information Environment
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public advisory on health misinformation, calling it a …
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public advisory on health misinformation, calling it a “serious threat to public health” and encouraging all Americans to help slow its spread during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. To that end, the National Academies have been addressing misinformation in health and science on multiple fronts and are taking steps to help cultivate a fact- and evidence-based information environment. This description was extracted from the article.
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Policy/Regulation | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation on Vaccination Intent in the U.K. and U.S.
Widespread acceptance of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be the next major step to fight …
Widespread acceptance of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be the next major step to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but high uptake achievement will be a challenge and may be impeded by online misinformation. This article is a randomized controlled trial in the U.K. and the U.S. with the objective to quantify how exposure to online misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines affects intent to vaccinate to protect oneself or others. The authors report that in both countries…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America | Europe -
ArticlePublication 2017Misinformation Lingers in Memory: Failure of Three Pro-Vaccination Strategies
People's inability to update their memories in light of corrective information may have important public …
People's inability to update their memories in light of corrective information may have important public health consequences, as in the case of vaccination choice. The authors compare three potentially effective strategies in vaccine promotion: (1) one contrasting myths vs. facts, (2) one employing fact and icon boxes, and (3) one showing images of non-vaccinated sick children. Beliefs in the autism/vaccines link and in vaccines side effects, along with intention to vaccinate a future child, were…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2017Increasing Vaccination: Putting Psychological Science into Action
Vaccination is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, yet persistent public health …
Vaccination is one of the great achievements of the 20th century, yet persistent public health problems include inadequate, delayed, and unstable vaccination uptake. Psychology offers three general propositions for understanding and intervening to increase uptake where vaccines are available and affordable. The first proposition is that thoughts and feelings can motivate getting vaccinated. Hundreds of studies have shown that risk beliefs and anticipated regret about infectious disease correlate reliably with getting vaccinated; low confidence in…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Policy/Regulation | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Global Governance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021COVID-19, Fake News, and Vaccines: Should Regulation Be Implemented?
This article analyzes issues concerning the establishment of compulsory vaccination against COVID-19, as well as …
This article analyzes issues concerning the establishment of compulsory vaccination against COVID-19, as well as the role of misinformation as a disincentive – especially when published by health professionals – and citizen acceptance of measures in this regard. Data from different surveys revealed a high degree of hesitation rather than outright opposition to vaccines. The most frequent complaint related to the COVID-19 vaccination was the fear of side effects. Within the Spanish and European legislative…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Policy/Regulation | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Education/Labor | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2021COVID-19 Infodemic: Twitter vs. Facebook
The global spread of COVID-19 is affected by the spread of related misinformation – the …
The global spread of COVID-19 is affected by the spread of related misinformation – the so-called COVID-19 infodemic – that makes populations more vulnerable to the disease through resistance to mitigation efforts. This article analyzes the prevalence and diffusion of links to low-credibility content about the COVID-19 pandemic across Twitter and Facebook. They characterize cross-platform similarities and differences in popular sources, diffusion patterns, influencers, coordination, and automation. Comparing the two platforms, authors found divergence among…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Policy/Regulation | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2019Countering Misinformation with Lessons from Public Health
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. …
The internet is often praised as a tool for freedom of speech, democracy, and truth. However, the internet increasingly has become polluted by misinformation – the inadvertent spread of misleading and false information – and disinformation – the deliberate and coordinated spread of misleading and false information. Individuals online knowingly and unknowingly spread dangerous rumors and propaganda at an alarming rate, which can mislead or manipulate the worldview of those who encounter it. False information…
Decision Psychology | Culture/Society | Child/Nutrition | Infectious Diseases | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America