How do attitudes toward vaccination change over the course of a public health crisis? We report results from a longitudinal survey of United States residents during six months (March 16 –August 16, 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to past research suggesting that the increased salience of a disease threat should improve attitudes toward vaccines, we observed a decrease in intentions of getting a COVID-19 vaccine when one becomes available. We further found a decline in general vaccine attitudes and intentions of getting the influenza vaccine. Analyses of heterogeneity indicated that this decline is driven by participants who identify as Republicans, who showed a negative trend in vaccine attitudes and intentions, whereas Democrats remained largely stable. Consistent with research on risk perception and behavior, those with less favorable attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccination also perceived the virus to be less threatening. We provide suggestive evidence that differential exposure to media channels and social networks could explain the observed asymmetric polarization between self-identified Democrats and Republicans.
【초록키워드】 public health, Vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination, Vaccines, Influenza, COVID-19 pandemic, media, public health crisis, virus, heterogeneity, Health crisis, COVID-19 vaccination, influenza vaccine, Research, Intention, Behavior, social networks, United States, disease, Evidence, exposure to, Risk perception, participant, asymmetric, decrease, IMPROVE, Course, identify, indicated, United State, remained, less, driven by, explain, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, Vaccine,