Can Communication Strategies Combat COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy with Trade-Off between Public Service Messages and Public Skepticism? Experimental Evidence from Pakistan

Qiang Jin; Syed Hassan Raza; Muhammad Yousaf; Umer Zaman; Jenny Marisa Lim Dao Siang

doi:10.3390/vaccines9070757

Can Communication Strategies Combat COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy with Trade-Off between Public Service Messages and Public Skepticism? Experimental Evidence from Pakistan

Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Jul 7;9(7):757. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9070757.

Authors

Qiang Jin¹, Syed Hassan Raza², Muhammad Yousaf³, Umer Zaman⁴, Jenny Marisa Lim Dao Siang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Intercultural Communication Research Center, Hebei University, Baoding 071000, China.
² Department of Communication Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 66000, Pakistan.
³ Centre for Media and Communication Studies, University of Gujrat, Gujrat 50700, Pakistan.
⁴ Endicott College of International Studies, Woosong University, Daejeon 34606, Korea.
⁵ Department of Business Administration, School of Management, National Central University, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic may have reached a turning point as the World Health Organization and the global community of nations step up plans for mass vaccination campaigns. However, the COVID-19 vaccine-related conspiracy theories (e.g., falsehoods about birth control, women infertility, surveillance, and microchip humanity, etc.) have built new momentum for vaccine hesitancy. To this end, several nations worldwide, including Pakistan, are struggling to boost public trust and enthusiasm to get vaccinated, especially in an anxious and complicated atmosphere propelled by multiple, new and the deadliest variants of COVID-19. To address this critical research gap during these intensifying conditions of vaccine hesitancy, the present study makes the first attempt to explore the potential effects of various communication strategies, including public service message (safety benefits versus fear appraisals), media types (i.e., traditional versus digital), self-efficacy, perceived benefits and threats (susceptibility and severity), on the willingness to get vaccinated for COVID-19. Importantly, the underlying effects of public skepticism (in a moderating role) on these relationships were empirically examined. Using four fictitious COVID-19 immunization campaigns in a series of experiments with 2 (media type: traditional vs. digital) X 2 (service attribute: health and safety benefits vs. fear) message frames (represented as Group one to Group four), the findings identified fear appraisal as the most viable communication strategy in combating vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, public skepticism negatively moderated the effects of media types and public service message attributes on willingness to get vaccinated in relatively high (i.e., Group two), moderate (i.e., Group one and four), and low intensities (i.e., Group three). The pioneering findings of this research offer new strategic insights for the global health authorities and vaccine promoters to proactively address the downward spiral of people's willingness to take the COVID-19 vaccine.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; affect theory; health belief model; public service message; public skepticism; vaccine hesitancy; willingness to take COVID-19 vaccine.