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Can a Supranational Medicines Agency Restore Trust After Vaccine Suspensions? The Case of Vaxzevria

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  • Albanese, Andrea

    (LISER)

  • Fallucchi, Francesco

    (LISER)

  • Verheyden, Bertrand

    (LISER)

Abstract

Over the first half of March 2021, the majority of European governments suspended Astrazeneca's Vaxzevria vaccine as a precaution following media reports of rare blood clots. We analyse the impact of the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) March 18th statement assuring the public of the safety of Vaxzevria and the immediate reinstatement of the vaccine by most countries on respondents' intention to get vaccinated. By relying on survey data collected in Luxembourg and neighbouring areas between early March and mid-April, we observe that the willingness to be vaccinated was severely declining in the days preceding the EMA statement. We implement a regression discontinuity design exploiting the time at which respondents completed the survey and find that the vaccine reinstatement substantially restored vaccination intentions.

Suggested Citation

  • Albanese, Andrea & Fallucchi, Francesco & Verheyden, Bertrand, 2021. "Can a Supranational Medicines Agency Restore Trust After Vaccine Suspensions? The Case of Vaxzevria," IZA Discussion Papers 14553, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14553
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    1. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2020. "Simple Local Polynomial Density Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(531), pages 1449-1455, July.
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    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General

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