Annotated Agenda Behavioral Science Insights for COVID-19 March 19th, 2021 White House Briefing, 2:30pm To follow-up with speakers, or for assistance identifying additional experts please contact: BSPA Co-Founder Craig Fox or Communications Director Dave Nussbaum: davenussbaum@chicagobooth.edu
Agenda Introduction (2 minutes), Craig Fox (UCLA, Behavioral Science & Policy Association) Vaccine Hesitancy (5 minutes), Alison Buttenheim (University of Pennsylvania Nursing) Vaccine Follow-Through (5 minutes), Katherine Milkman (The Wharton School) Vaccine Equity (3 minutes), Neil Lewis, Jr. (Cornell University Medicine) Equity in Implementation (3 minutes), Ted Robertson (ideas42) Vaccine Messaging in the Field (3 minutes), Michael Hallsworth (BIT, North America) Federal Interventions to Increase Vaccine Uptake (3 minutes), Elana Safran (OES, GSA) Polarization (3 minutes) Jay van Bavel (NYU Psychology & Neuroscience) Persuasion across the Partisan Divide (3 minutes), Robb Willer (Stanford Sociology) Misinformation (3 minutes), David Rand (MIT Management Science) Q&A (10 minutes)
Featured Speakers & Summaries Craig Fox – Introduction Affiliation: Behavioral Science & Policy Association and UCLA Email address: craig.fox@anderson.ucla.edu Primary topic area: BSPA co-Founder Talk summary: Nine leading behavioral scientists will share top-line insights from current research addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Our purpose is to share top actionable research insights on vaccine hesitancy, follow-through and equity, and addressing misinformation and distrust across the partisan divide. We also aim to introduce the White House to the community of behavioral researchers available to consult or collaborate to enhance our nation’s response to the crisis.
Alison Buttenheim – Vaccine Hesitancy Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania Email address: abutt@nursing.upenn.edu Primary topic area: Vaccine hesitancy Talk summary: Vaccine hesitancy is a motivational state, informed by how we think and feel (vs. a behavior, or something we do). COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy takes many forms and the interventions needed to address it will too. From the behavioral science toolkit, I’ll share 4 strategies to increase intentions and reduce hesitancy: 1. Change how you ask about intentions 2. Prompt people to answer “What’s Your Why?” 3. Set expectations about side effects. 4. Use fun and delight.
Katy Milkman – Vaccine Follow-Through Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania Email address: kmilkman@wharton.upenn.edu Primary topic area: Vaccine follow-through Talk summary: Many people who intend to get vaccinated won’t follow through. Research on closing the intention-action gap when it comes to flu shots suggests we should: 1) assign people vaccination (that are easy to reschedule), 2) prompt people to plan the date and time when they’ll get vaccinated (if/when appointments can’t be assigned), & 3) tell people a shot is “reserved for you.”
Neil Lewis, Jr. – Vaccine Equity Affiliation: Cornell University & Weill Cornell Medicine Email address: nlewisjr@cornell.edu Primary topic area: Building Trust in Underserved Communities Talk summary: Historical and contemporary inequality make it more difficult for some groups to get vaccinated than others and undermines trust in the vaccination process. Because of this, interventions may need to take adaptive and iterative approaches that respond to the structural and messaging needs of marginalized communities. I will discuss our adaptive intervention approach that leverages the strengths of trusted community partners, government, and scientists to improve equity in the vaccination process.
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Ted Robertson – Equity in Implementation Affiliation: ideas42 Email address: trobertson@ideas42.org Primary topic area: Vaccine hesitancy, follow-through, and equity Talk summary: Making vaccination easier will increase rates of uptake and improve equity. We need to radically simplify the process: there are really only 4-5 pieces of data we need to collect (and only a couple we need ahead of time) that we can get in one easy step. For those still deliberating or unconvinced, we need to do GOTVax-type community outreach with behavioral insights baked in to build confidence.
Michael Hallsworth – Vaccine Messaging Affiliation: Behavioral Insights Team, North America Email address: michael.hallsworth@bi.team Primary topic area: Vaccine hesitancy Talk summary: We ran a series of randomized controlled trials with 40,000 participants to identify practical and effective COVID-19 vaccine messages for mayors and other leaders to use. Four approaches increased stated vaccine confidence (even among more hesitant groups): focusing on protecting loved ones, using healthcare professionals as messengers, framing vaccines as the way to “get our lives back”, and emphasizing how many people had already been vaccinated. Not all messages worked: referencing political figures and side effects backfired for some groups.
Elana Safran – Federal Interventions to Increase Vaccine Uptake Affiliation: Office of Evaluation Sciences, U.S. General Services Administration Email address: elana.safran@gsa.gov Primary topic area: Vaccination uptake evaluations in the Federal government Talk summary: The Office of Evaluation Sciences (OES) conducted 8 rigorous impact evaluations about routine vaccination uptake in the Federal context, by working with health systems (state Departments of Health, VA facilities) that were set up to enable random assignment of potential vaccine recipients to different intervention strategies, and link to administrative data on vaccinations. For more information on OES’s COVID-19 response work, including evaluations of equitable distribution of small business grantsand loans, see: https://oes.gsa.gov/covid-19-response/
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Jay van Bavel – Polarization Affiliation: New York University Email address: jay.vanbavel@gmail.com Primary topic area: Misinformation and Polarization Talk summary: The entire pandemic response in the United States has been impaired by political polarization. From risk perceptions to social distancing and mask wearing to vaccinations, Republicans have been reluctant to follow public health guidelines. I will discuss how polarization might prove to be one of the biggest barriers to reaching herd immunity and how social norms might help address this barrier.
Robb Willer – Persuasion Across the Partisan Divide Affiliation: Stanford University Email address: willer@stanford.edu Primary topic area: Polarization Talk summary: How can we increase Republicans’ vaccine intentions? Could Republican leaders be helpful pro-vaccine messengers? In an ongoing research, we find that pro-vaccine messaging from Republican leaders has little effect on most Republicans’ vaccine intentions, but increases vaccine encouragement and receptivity to booster shots among vaccinated Republicans. Our findings suggest Republicans are themselves deeply polarized in their views of vaccination, with an anti-vaccination hard core that is not easily reached by Republican leaders, including Donald Trump.
David Rand – Misinformation Affiliation: MIT Email address: rand.dave@gmail.com Primary topic area: Misinformation and Polarization Talk summary: Despite the proliferation of misinformation online, our research suggests that most social media users do not actually want to share inaccurate content. However, the social media context focuses their attention on other - often more social factors, such that they forget to stop and think about whether content is accurate before they share it. Based on this logic, we show that nudging users to think about accuracy increases the quality of information they share online.
BSPA White House Briefing Organizers: Dave Nussbaum: davenussbaum@chicagobooth.edu Jehan Sparks: jehan.sparks@anderson.ucla.edu Craig Fox: craig.fox@anderson.ucla.edu Special thanks to John Neffinger and Lee-Sien Kao 4