Novelty, Conformity and Trust in COVID-19 Vaccines

NCT04693689 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SG-Trust in Vaccines
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 35,180
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Despite their established benefits as public measures, vaccines continue to be treated with suspicion by many people, in the US and other parts of the world (Larson et al. 2014; Olive et al. 2018; Lazarus et al. 2020). Since the success of vaccines depends on their high uptake level (Anderson and May, 1985; Fine et al. 2011; Fontanet and Cauchemez, 2020), identifying factors that influence low trust and decision-making in relation to vaccines is essential in order to combat diseases such as the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). The investigators study factors that could potentially influence public's trust in COVID-19 vaccines through a large-scale online field experiment. The investigators conduct an online survey of 32,400 subjects in nine countries (USA, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Germany, and UK). The investigators study how willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is affected by (1) the "novelty" of the vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA vaccines), and (2) the adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country. That is - the impact of controversial science and the force of conformity on the rates of adoption. The latter will also allow us to calculate the "tipping point" adoption rate for each country that will allow the country to achieve herd immunity from COVID-19. The investigators have four hypotheses, below. H1 (Conformity): People are more willing to receive a vaccine as the cumulative adoption rate in their community increases. H2 (Novelty): People are less willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine that uses the new RNA technology, compared to a conventional vaccine H3 (Interaction between H1 and H2): As the cumulative adoption rate in a community increases, the difference between people's willingness to adopt conventional rather than RNA vaccines decreases. H4 (Tipping Point): Each country will have a different "tipping point". This is the cumulative adoption rate after which unvaccinated people are significantly more willing to get the vaccine. Countries that have a higher "honesty index" will have the tipping point appear at a lower cumulative adoption rate. Please note that this study is not a clinical trial. This study is a randomized controlled trial in the form of an online survey.

Conditions

Trust

Keywords

COVID-19; Coronavirus; Vaccine; Trust; RNA; Global survey

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine

  Subjects' response to the question: "If the conventional COVID-19 vaccine were provided to you for free, how likely are you to accept the vaccination?" on a Likert scale from 1 (very unlikely) to 5 (very likely).

  During the 15-minute survey

• Belief in how much COVID-19 vaccine should be subsidized by the government

  Subjects' response to the question: "How much do you think the government should subsidize the conventional COVID-19 vaccine?" There are 5 answer options: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%.

  During the 15-minute survey

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Belief in importance of vaccinating children

  During the 15-minute survey

• Belief in safety of vaccines

  During the 15-minute survey

• Belief in effectiveness of vaccines

  During the 15-minute survey

• Dishonesty index

  During the 15-minute survey

Study Arms (10)

Conventional vaccine, 0% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive a conventional vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 0%.

Other: Conventional vaccine; Other: 0% adoption rate

Conventional vaccine, 20% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive a conventional vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 20%.

Other: 20% adoption rate; Other: Conventional vaccine

Conventional vaccine, 40% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive a conventional vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 40%.

Other: 40% adoption rate; Other: Conventional vaccine

Conventional vaccine, 60% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive a conventional vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 60%.

Other: 60% adoption rate; Other: Conventional vaccine

Conventional vaccine, 80% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive a conventional vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 80%.

Other: 80% adoption rate; Other: Conventional vaccine

RNA vaccine, 0% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive an RNA vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 0%.

Other: RNA vaccine; Other: 0% adoption rate

RNA vaccine, 20% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive an RNA vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 20%.

Other: RNA vaccine; Other: 20% adoption rate

RNA vaccine, 40% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive an RNA vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 40%.

Other: RNA vaccine; Other: 40% adoption rate

RNA vaccine, 60% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive an RNA vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 60%.

Other: RNA vaccine; Other: 60% adoption rate

RNA vaccine, 80% adoption rate

EXPERIMENTAL

Our survey follows a 2 x 5 between-subjects design. The two dimensions we vary are vaccine technology (conventional vs. RNA) and the hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine in the country (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%). We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine given the vaccine technology and a hypothetical adoption rate of the new vaccine. In this arm, we elicit subjects' willingness to receive an RNA vaccine if its current adoption rate in the country is 80%.

Other: RNA vaccine; Other: 80% adoption rate

Interventions

RNA vaccine OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive RNA COVID-19 vaccine

RNA vaccine, 0% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 20% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 40% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 60% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 80% adoption rate

20% adoption rate OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new vaccine if 20% of the country's population has received it

Conventional vaccine, 20% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 20% adoption rate

40% adoption rate OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new vaccine if 40% of the country's population has received it

Conventional vaccine, 40% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 40% adoption rate

60% adoption rate OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new vaccine if 60% of the country's population has received it

Conventional vaccine, 60% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 60% adoption rate

80% adoption rate OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new vaccine if 80% of the country's population has received it

Conventional vaccine, 80% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 80% adoption rate

Conventional vaccine OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive conventional COVID-19 vaccine

Conventional vaccine, 0% adoption rate; Conventional vaccine, 20% adoption rate; Conventional vaccine, 40% adoption rate; Conventional vaccine, 60% adoption rate; Conventional vaccine, 80% adoption rate

0% adoption rate OTHER

We elicit subjects' willingness to receive the new vaccine if 0% of the country's population has received it

Conventional vaccine, 0% adoption rate; RNA vaccine, 0% adoption rate

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Healthy adults over 18 years old

You may not qualify if:

• None

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National University of Singapore: lead

Study Sites (1)

SurveyMonkey

San Mateo, California, 94403, United States

Location

Related Publications (6)

• Anderson RM, May RM. Vaccination and herd immunity to infectious diseases. Nature. 1985 Nov 28-Dec 4;318(6044):323-9. doi: 10.1038/318323a0.

  PMID: 3906406 BACKGROUND

• Fine P, Eames K, Heymann DL. "Herd immunity": a rough guide. Clin Infect Dis. 2011 Apr 1;52(7):911-6. doi: 10.1093/cid/cir007.

  PMID: 21427399 BACKGROUND

• Fontanet A, Cauchemez S. COVID-19 herd immunity: where are we? Nat Rev Immunol. 2020 Oct;20(10):583-584. doi: 10.1038/s41577-020-00451-5.

  PMID: 32908300 BACKGROUND

• Larson HJ, Jarrett C, Eckersberger E, Smith DM, Paterson P. Understanding vaccine hesitancy around vaccines and vaccination from a global perspective: a systematic review of published literature, 2007-2012. Vaccine. 2014 Apr 17;32(19):2150-9. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.01.081. Epub 2014 Mar 2.

  PMID: 24598724 BACKGROUND

• Lazarus JV, Ratzan SC, Palayew A, Gostin LO, Larson HJ, Rabin K, Kimball S, El-Mohandes A. A global survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine. Nat Med. 2021 Feb;27(2):225-228. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1124-9. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

  PMID: 33082575 BACKGROUND

• Olive JK, Hotez PJ, Damania A, Nolan MS. The state of the antivaccine movement in the United States: A focused examination of nonmedical exemptions in states and counties. PLoS Med. 2018 Jun 12;15(6):e1002578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002578. eCollection 2018 Jun.

  PMID: 29894470 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

COVID-19; Coronavirus Infections

Interventions

mRNA Vaccines

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Respiratory Tract Infections; Infections; Virus Diseases; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Nucleic Acid-Based Vaccines; Vaccines, Synthetic; Recombinant Proteins; Proteins; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Vaccines, Acellular; Vaccines, Subunit; Vaccines; Biological Products; Complex Mixtures; Antigens; Biological Factors

Study Officials

• Teck Ho

  National University of Singapore

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Director

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 22, 2020
• First Posted: January 5, 2021
• Study Start: February 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: March 30, 2021
• Study Completion: March 30, 2021
• Last Updated: February 22, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, ICF, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: After completion of all analyses. It will be made available in the supporting documentation.
• Access Criteria: It will be made available in the supporting documentation.

Locations

US (1)