Information Delivered by a Chatbot Has a Positive Impact on COVID-19 Vaccines Attitudes and Intentions

Abstract

The COVID-19 vaccines will not end the pandemic if they stay in freezers. In many countries, such as France, COVID-19 vaccines hesitancy is high. It is crucial that governments make it as easy as possible for people who want to be vaccinated to do so, but also that they devise communication strategies to address the concerns of vaccine hesitant individuals. We introduce and test on 701 French participants a novel messaging strategy: a chatbot that answers people’s questions about COVID-19 vaccines. We find that interacting with this chatbot for a few minutes significantly increases people’s intentions to get vaccinated (ß = 0.12) and has a positive impact on their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination (ß = 0.23). Our results suggest that a properly scripted and regularly updated chatbot could offer a powerful resource to help fight hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccines.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Shortening the Last Mile

“…It is thus important to design interventions at all scales and, when large effects are required, to make the best of the power of discussion to change minds. For example, in a recent study, a chatbot designed to address arguments against the COVID-19 vaccine had proved successful in shifting vaccination attitudes and behavioral intentions [10].…”

“…in person discussion [8,9], chatbot [10]). (ii) Identify the outcome of interest: vaccination rates, or proxies such as vaccination attitudes and intentions, or motivation to transmit pro-vaccination messages.…”

“…This is particularly relevant if the population's positions regarding vaccination are politically polarized iv . (v) Conduct an experiment with a control group receiving a nonpersuasive message (e.g., [10]). If measuring attitudes and intentions, pre-and postmessaging measures might create task demands, but are more informative.…”

Chloe for COVID-19: Evolution of an Intelligent Conversational Agent to Address Infodemic Management Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…As COVID-19 vaccination campaigns continue to target the general public, intelligent conversational agents have the potential to play a critical role in debunking misinformation surrounding vaccines and directing individuals to public health resources [ 21 , 22 ]. One study in the preprint stage, which examined a chatbot designed to address arguments against the COVID-19 vaccine, promisingly showed that individuals’ attitudes towards vaccination became more positive after receiving information from this chatbot [ 23 ]. Moreover, in a recent Nature survey of infectious disease researchers, virologists, and immunologists in 23 countries, the majority of respondents predicted that the SARS-CoV-2 virus will likely become endemic over time, with its future closely depending on virus mutations and the type of immunity individuals will acquire [ 24 ].…”

Effect of information about COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness and side effects on behavioural intentions: two online experiments

“…We are aware of only one study which has used actual results from clinical trials as part of an experimental intervention. Altay et al (2021) paid French participants to spend 10 minutes interacting with an extensive Q&A interface in which users could select questions and read answers (the complete Q&A comprised more than 20 pages of text). Some of the answers included preliminary results from clinical trials outlining vaccine efficacy (95% for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and <70% for AstraZeneca) and noted some side effects without giving any indication of frequency.…”