2021, Marcella Alsan, "Promoting Vaccine Take-up among Minority Populations"

Widespread vaccination is a critical tool in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Achieving this goal requires not just vaccine availability, but high rates of voluntary take-up, including in sub-groups of the population whose members have limited confidence in, and connection to, the health-care system. In a recent study (28593), NBER Research Associate Marcella Alsan of Harvard University and Sarah Eichmeyer of the University of Munich analyze various messaging strategies that target members of minority groups. They find that increasing the congruence between the messenger and the recipient, and acknowledging past shortcomings in the delivery of medical care to minority groups, can boost vaccine demand. Alsan summarizes these findings in the video above.   An archive of NBER videos on pandemic-related research may be found here.