Can Vaccination Intentions against COVID-19 be Nudged?

Once vaccines against COVID-19 became available in many countries, a new challenge has emerged – how to increase the number of people who vaccinate? Different policies are being considered and implemented, including behaviourally informed interventions (i.e., nudges). The advantage of such policies is that they are expected to preserve people’s freedom. However, their effectiveness in enhancing vaccinations is not entirely clear. To be able to choose the most suitable policy to enhance vaccinations, while balancing public health against people’s freedoms, policymakers need to know which interventions work, but also which do not. Therefore, in this study we have experimentally examined two types of nudges, descriptive social norms, and saliency, on representative samples in Israel and the UK. We did not find evidence that informing people that the vast majority of their country-people intend to vaccinate enhanced vaccination intentions (Israel). We also did not find evidence that making the death experience from COVID-19, or its hard symptoms, salient enhanced vaccination intentions (UK). Finally, we have also examined the effectiveness of transparent nudges, in which people were informed they are being nudged and why. Such interventions as well did not change the results.