Prosocial vaccination

Abstract

Most vaccines not only directly protect vaccinated individuals but also provide a social benefit through community protection. Therefore, vaccination can be considered a prosocial act to protect others. We review the recent empirical evidence on (i) how prosocial concerns relate to vaccination intentions and (ii) promoting prosocial vaccination through explaining community protection or inducing concern for vulnerable others. The available evidence suggests that promoting the prosocial aspect of vaccinations could be a vaccination communication strategy to improve vaccine uptake. We point to several areas in which future research can test the boundary conditions of this approach and increase its effectiveness.

Keywords: Community protection; Herd immunity; Prosociality; Vaccination; Vaccine uptake.