Vaccination-hesitancy and global warming: distinct social challenges with similar behavioural solutions

Ilan Fischer; Daniel I Rubenstein; Simon A Levin

doi:10.1098/rsos.211515

Vaccination-hesitancy and global warming: distinct social challenges with similar behavioural solutions

R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jun 15;9(6):211515. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211515. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

Ilan Fischer¹, Daniel I Rubenstein², Simon A Levin²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.

Abstract

Although the COVID-19 vaccine has dramatically changed the fight against the pandemic, many exhibit vaccination-hesitancy. At the same time, continued human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases pose an alarming threat to humanity. Based on the theory of Subjective Expected Relative Similarity (SERS) and a recent international study that drastically modified COVID-19 health-related attitudes, we explain why a similar approach and a corresponding public policy are expected to help resolve both behavioural issues: reduce vaccination hesitancy and motivate climate actions.

Keywords: SERS‌; behaviour; global warming; vaccination hesitancy.