Coronavirus: “Willingness to be vaccinated is contagious” | tagesschau.de

According to behavioral economist Schmelz, the hard core of those who oppose the vaccination is less than five percent. The great majority of the unvaccinated are therefore people who can be easily reached. You have to convince them through education.

At the start of the nationwide vaccination week in the fight against the coronavirus, psychologist and behavioral economist Katrin Schmelz sees the opportunity to significantly increase the vaccination rate. Vaccine skeptics could develop into people who want to be vaccinated, explained the scientist from the University of Konstanz in an interview with tagesschau24. There is a lot of potential to do persuasive work.

“Willingness to vaccinate is contagious, but so is vaccination skepticism,” said Schmelz. The hard core of the vaccine opponents is only below five percent, said Schmelz. So that opponents of vaccination develop into vaccination advocates over time, it is important that the vaccination and, above all, the education about it come to the people.

People who are undecided are often people who do not actively inform themselves on the Internet. They would have to be informed, for example, that long-term consequences of a vaccination are not to be expected from a medical point of view.

“Speak positively about vaccination”

One lever could be to speak positively about the corona vaccination. For example, the number “62 percent vaccinated” does not sound like much, but it must be made clear that this number relates to the general population and to those who have been vaccinated twice.

The proportion of adults who are ready to be vaccinated is much higher. 77 percent of adults have already been vaccinated, said the behavioral economist. This number is a much more positive signal about the willingness to vaccinate to those who are still unsure.

In addition, one has to rely on the “copycat effect”. “We see in our studies that there is conformity when it comes to vaccination readiness,” said Schmelz. The corona vaccination campaign is not stalling, it is going on constantly.

Skepticism about mandatory vaccinations

Schmelz was skeptical about discussions about compulsory corona vaccination. According to the scientist, data show that the willingness to be vaccinated is higher with voluntary participation than with mandatory vaccination.

There is a very strong effect of trust in the government on vaccination readiness. “The government has always asserted that there will be no compulsory vaccination. If this were introduced, it would be poison for trust and would destroy the willingness to vaccinate,” explained Schmelz.