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When Reality Bites: Local Deaths and Vaccine Take-Up

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  • Zenou, Yves
  • Giulietti, Corrado
  • Vlassopoulos, Michael

Abstract

In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 deaths that occurred before vaccination rollouts impact subsequent vaccination take-ups. We used data on local vaccination rates and COVID-19-related deaths from England measured at high geographic granularity. We found that vaccination take-up as of November 2021 was positively associated with pre-vaccine COVID-19-related deaths, controlling for demographic, economic, and health-related characteristics of the localities, while including geographic fixed effects. In addition, the share of ethnic minorities in a locality was negatively associated with vaccination rates, and that localities with a larger share of ethnic minorities increased their vaccination rates if they get exposed to more COVID-related-deaths. Further evidence on vaccination intention at the individual level from a representative sample corroborated these patterns. Overall, our evidence suggests that social proximity to victims of the disease triggers a desire to take protective measures against it.

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  • Zenou, Yves & Giulietti, Corrado & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2021. "When Reality Bites: Local Deaths and Vaccine Take-Up," CEPR Discussion Papers 16791, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16791
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    3. Pronkina, Elizaveta & Rees, Daniel I., 2022. "Predicting COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake," IZA Discussion Papers 15625, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vaccination hesitancy; Covid-19; Social interactions; Information; Behavior change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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