Do COVID-19 Vaccination Policies Backfire? The Effects of Mandates, Vaccination Passports, and Financial Incentives on COVID-19 Vaccination.

Faced with the challenges of motivating people to vaccinate, many countries have introduced policy-level interventions to encourage vaccination against COVID-19. For example, mandates were widely imposed requiring individuals to vaccinate to work and attend school, and vaccination passports required individuals to show proof of vaccination to travel and access public spaces and events. Furthermore, some countries also began offering financial incentives for getting vaccinated.

State policies increase vaccination by shaping social norms.

In a survey and four preregistered experiments, we examined if implementing a vaccine-promoting policy is likely to encourage vaccination by shaping the norms of a society. By combining state-level policy data with a longitudinal survey, we found that vaccine-supportive policies and laws are associated with more positive social norms. To establish a causal effect, we conducted four preregistered experiments to gauge the impact of policies, including the government recommendation for children to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and changes in funding for immunization programs.

Longitudinal Pathways to Influenza Vaccination Vary With Socio-Structural Disadvantages.

Background: Although influenza vaccination can prevent influenza-related deaths, uptake remains low, particularly in disadvantaged populations.

Purpose: A theoretical model of psychological pathways to vaccination accounting for the direct and moderating role of socio-structural factors was tested. The study sought to understand the joint contributions of psychological (i.

Are spatial models advantageous for predicting county-level HIV epidemiology across the United States?

Predicting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemiology is vital for achieving public health milestones. Incorporating spatial dependence when data varies by region can often provide better prediction results, at the cost of computational efficiency. However, with the growing number of covariates available that capture the data variability, the benefit of a spatial model could be less crucial.

State health policies and interest in PrEP: evidence from Google Trends.

This study investigated the association between interest in Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in the US using Google Health Trends as a source of big data and state policy variables of Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and initiation of PrEP Assistance Programs (PrEP-AP). As of December 2019, thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have accepted federal Medicaid funding provided through the ACA to expand eligibility to low-income adults. Among these expansion states, eight states also implemented PrEP-AP, a program that finances PrEP.

Insights on the implications of COVID-19 mitigation measures for mental health.

Given the unprecedented level and duration of mitigation policies during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, it is not surprising that the public and the media have raised important questions about the potential for negative mental health consequences of the measures. To answer them, natural variability in policy implementation across US states and over time was analyzed to determine if mitigation policies correlated with Google searches for terms associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings indicated that restaurant/bar limits and stay-at-home orders correlated with immediate increases in searches for isolation and worry but the effects tapered off two to four weeks after their respective peaks.

The demand for preventive and restorative dental services among older adults.

Many older Americans have poor access to dental care, resulting in a high prevalence of oral health problems. Because traditional Medicare does not include dental care benefits, only older Americans who are employed, have post-retirement dental benefits or spousal coverage, or enroll in certain Medicare Advantage plans are able to obtain dental care coverage. We seek to determine the extent to which poor access to dental insurance and high out-of-pocket costs affect dental service use by the elderly.