“Vaccine Passports” May Backfire: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study in the UK and Israel on Willingness to Get Vaccinated against COVID-19

Abstract

Domestic “vaccine passports” are being implemented across the world as a way of increasing vaccinated people’s freedom of movement and to encourage vaccination. However, these vaccine passports may affect people’s vaccination decisions in unintended and undesirable ways. This cross-sectional study investigated whether people’s willingness and motivation to get vaccinated relate to their psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness), and how vaccine passports might affect these needs. Across two countries and 1358 participants, we found that need frustration—particularly autonomy frustration—was associated with lower willingness to get vaccinated and with a shift from self-determined to external motivation. In Israel (a country with vaccine passports), people reported greater autonomy frustration than in the UK (a country without vaccine passports). Our findings suggest that control measures, such as domestic vaccine passports, may have detrimental effects on people’s autonomy, motivation, and willingness to get vaccinated. Policies should strive to achieve a highly vaccinated population by supporting individuals’ autonomous motivation to get vaccinated and using messages of autonomy and relatedness, rather than applying pressure and external controls.

Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Southern Italy

“…Our study demonstrated a high level of over 65-year-old people vaccinated/willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19; however, a lower vaccine acceptance was associated to the date of questionnaire fulfilling (after the mandatory implementation of the green pass). Therefore, although this evidence needs to be further confirmed, it is possible to agree with previous studies reporting that compulsory measures must be accompanied by effective education and information strategies of the target population [20,43], paying attention to the spread of data not supported by scientific evidence [18]. In this context, the role of reference healthcare personnel is crucial.…”

“…Nevertheless, the logistic regression analysis also confirmed a relationship between vaccine acceptance and date of questionnaire fulfilling. Moreover, a previous study demonstrated that domestic vaccine passports may have detrimental effects on people's motivation and willingness to get vaccinated [20]. In a recent study, performed in Germany by Graeber et al, 51% of the sample was in favor of a policy of mandatory vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 [42], and the approval rate for mandatory vaccination was significantly higher among those who would get vaccinated voluntarily (around 60%) than among those who would not get vaccinated voluntarily (27%).…”

“…However, it is demonstrated that mandatory measures such as the compulsory adoption of a vaccine passport may be interpreted as a threat to human rights and civil liberty, and then decrease vaccine acceptance [43]. Therefore, interventions supporting individuals' autonomous motivation to get vaccinated should be programmed and implemented beside compulsory previsions of law, even in non-pandemic times [20,43]. The early development of national public health laws and policies to provide a proportionate and graduated approach to compulsory vaccination in the context of a global health crisis, beside effective information campaigns, may represent an effective preparedness strategy [20,43].…”

“…In this scenario, vaccine acceptance may play a fundamental role, and it must be monitored. In fact, it is demonstrated that control measures, such as domestic vaccine passports, may have detrimental effects on people's autonomy, motivation, and willingness to get vaccinated [20]; therefore, it is necessary supporting individuals' autonomous motivation through specific health promotion intervention and informative campaign. Anyway, such actions firstly require a precise assessment of the level of vaccine acceptance and its determinants, to better target the communication campaign in order to fight vaccine hesitancy [21,22].…”

Passport to a Mighty Nation: Exploring Sociocultural Foundation of Chinese Public’s Attitude to COVID-19 Vaccine Certificates

“…It is also necessary to discuss the consequences of adopting VP from the perspective of international comparison. A study comparing Israel (where VP was adopted) and UK respondents found that domestic vaccine passports may negatively affect people’s autonomy, motivation, and willingness to get vaccinated [ 44 ]. The finding was consistent with the suggestion that besides vaccine certificates, public health officials should also trigger people’s intrinsic motivation to address the pandemic [ 45 ].…”