Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response

Bavel, Jay Joseph Van; Baicker, Katherine; Boggio, Paulo S.; Capraro, Valerio; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Cikara, Mina; Crockett, Molly J.; Crum, Alia J.; Douglas, Karen M.; Druckman, James N.; Drury, John; Dube, Oeindrila; Ellemers, Naomi; Finkel, Eli J.; Fowler, James H.; Gelfand, Michele; Han, Shihui; Haslam, S. Alexander; Jetten, Jolanda; Kitayama, Shinobu; Mobbs, Dean; Napper, Lucy E.; Packer, Dominic J.; Pennycook, Gordon; Peters, Ellen; Petty, Richard E.; Rand, David G.; Reicher, Stephen; Schnall, Simone; Shariff, Azim; Skitka, Linda J.; Smith, Sandra Susan; Sunstein, Cass R.; Tabri, Nassim; Tucker, Joshua A.; Linden, Sander van der; Lange, P; Weeden, Kim A.; Wohl, Michael J. A.; Zaki, Jamil; Zion, Sean R.; Willer, Robb

doi:10.31234/osf.io/y38m9

Cited by 546 publications

(593 citation statements)

References 184 publications

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“…Several policy tools appears natural to achieve this goal, such as a subsidy to decrease the cash cost of vaccination, a nationwide public vaccination campaign to lower the psychological cost of vaccination, and financial aid to encourage R&D activities to minimize the side-effects of vaccines. Policy prescriptions, on the other hand, should also be interpreted with caution as in uncontrolled settings, many factors including framing, social norm and even emotion, can have salient effects on preventive behavior ( [3]).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The problem of epidemic control is of fundamental economic importance because disease and infection are irrefutably associated with uncertainty and externalities, which have long been central concepts in economics. According to a WHO report [2], behavioral changes at the community level are key to the prevention and elimination of epidemics, especially in low-and middle-income countries (see also [3] for an excellent recent review on how social and behavioral science can inform behavioral changes to combat . Understanding people's choices for epidemic control thus has significant policy implications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Herd immunity and a vaccination game: An experimental study

Lim

Zhang

2020

PLoS ONE

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Would the affected communities voluntarily obtain herd immunity if a cure for COVID-19 was available? This paper experimentally investigates people's vaccination choices in the context of a nonlinear public good game. A "vaccination game" is defined in which costly commitments (vaccination) are required of a fraction of the population to reach the critical level needed for herd immunity, without which defectors are punished by the natural contagion of epidemics. Our experimental implementation of a vaccination game in a controlled laboratory setting reveals that endogenous epidemic punishment is a credible threat, resulting in voluntary vaccination to obtain herd immunity, for which the orthodox principle of positive externalities fails to account. The concave nature of the infection probability plays a key role in facilitating the elimination of an epidemic. OPEN ACCESSCitation: Lim W, Zhang P (2020) Herd immunity and a vaccination game: An experimental study. PLoS ONE 15(5): e0232652. https://doi.org/ 10.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herd immunity and a vaccination game: An experimental study

Lim

Zhang

2020

PLoS ONE

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“…COVID-19 is a deadly clinical disease that is now widely acknowledged to have high rates of community spread, where it is having devastating social and economic impacts 17,18 . Strategic testing in community-based settings is therefore critical for tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and for identifying the factors that mitigate transmission.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enzyme immunoassay for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in dried blood spot samples: A minimally-invasive approach to facilitate community- and population-based screening

McDade

McNally²,

D’Aquila

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies is needed to document the community prevalence and distribution of the virus, particularly since many individuals have mild symptoms and cannot access molecular diagnostic testing of naso-pharyngeal swabs. However, the requirement for serum/plasma limits serological testing to clinical settings where it is feasible to collect and process venous blood. To address this problem we developed a serological test for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies that requires only a single drop of capillary whole blood, collected from a simple finger prick and dried on filter paper (dried blood spot, DBS).Methods Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was optimized to detect SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein. DBS samples were eluted overnight and transferred to a 96-well plate coated with antigen, and anti-human IgG-HRP was used to generate signal in proportion to bound antibody. DBS samples spiked with anti-SARS IgG antibody, and samples from known positive and negative cases, were compared to evaluate assay performance.Results Analysis of samples with known concentrations of anti-SARS IgG produced the expected pattern of dose-response. Optical density (OD) values were significantly elevated for known positive cases in comparison with samples from unexposed individuals.Discussion DBS ELISA provides a minimally-invasive alternative to venous blood collection that combines the convenience of sample collection in the home or non-clinical setting with the quantitation of ELISA in the lab. Serological testing for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in DBS samples should facilitate research across a wide range of community-and population-based settings on seroprevalence, predictors and duration of antibody responses, as well as correlates of protection from reinfection, each of which is critically important for pandemic control.

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“…a sense that we are all in this together." 1 At the other extreme, staff may feel that they are being exposed to undue risk, that messaging around pandemic operational changes is inconsistent and or unclear, and that there is a lack of trust in the leadership team's ability to see the department through this storm largely unscathed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%