"I'll wait for the English one" : COVID-19 vaccine country of origin, national identity, and their effects on vaccine perceptions and uptake willingness
Abstract
Vaccines can play a crucial role in reducing the negative outcomes of pandemics. In this paper we explore how vaccine perceptions and uptake willingness can be affected by vaccine-related information, the vaccine’s country of origin, and national identity. Study 1 (N = 800) showed that a vaccine manufactured by China was perceived more negatively compared to vaccines from the UK, Germany, and Chile. Providing vaccine effectiveness information (83%) increased preference for waiting for an alternative vaccine and reduced perceived effectiveness of a vaccine from China. Brexit supporters perceived vaccines as less safe in general, and particularly thought of a vaccine from China as less competent, effective, and trustworthy, and were less prepared to have it. Study 2 (N = 601) largely replicated findings of Study 1 regarding the effects of a vaccine’s country of origin. Moreover, participants who reported a higher sense of British superiority reported more negative attitudes towards a vaccine from China. However, apart from the aforementioned main effects of Study 2, our attempt to manipulate British identity vis a vis a Global identity in order to examine particular national-identity related outcomes was not successful. Overall, vaccine characteristics can interact with various social psychological factors, potentially affecting people’s perceptions and willingness to uptake particular measures to support personal and public health.
Citation
Atkinson , M , Ntontis , E , Neville , F G & Reicher , S D 2023 , ' "I'll wait for the English one" : COVID-19 vaccine country of origin, national identity, and their effects on vaccine perceptions and uptake willingness ' , Social and Personality Psychology Compass , vol. Early View , e12837 . https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12837
Publication
Social and Personality Psychology Compass
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1751-9004Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Social and Personality Psychology Compass published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
Funding: This work was supported by the UK Research and Innovation Economic and Social Research Council (grant reference number ES/V005383/1).Collections
Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
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