Publicly-available data on COVID-19 case counts and positivity rates might not be as accurate with the prevalence and use of at-home test kits. Civis's own Ryan Jewell went to find out if a data gap exists and how to fill it with survey data.
Significant investments have been made toward the rapid development of a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Even though we are still far from achieving this goal, our research shows once a vaccine is available, there will be a lot of convincing to do, especially in some communities. Roughly a quarter of US adults don’t plan to get vaccinated, and this number is even higher among women and those without a college degree, those making less than $75K per year, and those living in rural areas.
It is critical to start understanding baseline intent to vaccinate and how to persuasively communicate about the importance of vaccination now, given the deluge of misinformation about the virus and heightened distrust.
Leveraging a randomized controlled trial framework (the gold standard approach in clinical trials) and statistical modeling, our Creative Focus tool tested the effectiveness of five different messages at driving intent to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Each message described the importance of vaccination but emphasized a different reason why.
The Safety message aimed to alleviate concerns about the vaccine by highlighting the FDA’s extensive testing process, and emphasizing how a shortened timeline would only impact the cost of development, not safety and effectiveness. |
||
The Economic Recovery message emphasized the economic devastation caused by COVID-19 and the vaccine’s role in an accelerated path to recovery. |
||
The Statistics message leveraged eye-opening data about COVID-19 as a leading cause of death in the US, as well as the prolonged symptoms impacting the quality of life of those who have technically “recovered.” |
||
The Personal Story message shared the tale of a young, otherwise healthy American who died from COVID-19. |
||
The Community message explained herd immunity and emphasized the vaccine’s role in making communities healthier for everyone, including those who are unable to get vaccinated. |
||
3,954 survey respondents were divided into six groups, five that saw a message related to COVID-19 vaccination, and one control group that did not see a message. Civis asked respondents in each of the five treatment groups how likely they were to get the eventual COVID-19 vaccine seeing one of these messages (or in the case of the control group, seeing no message at all). After data collection, Civis built and ran a statistical model that calculated the impact of each message on support for COVID-19 vaccination, controlling for respondent characteristics.