Investigating the causal effects of COVID-19 vaccination on the adoption of protective behaviors in Japan: Insights from a fuzzy regression discontinuity design.

Autor: Chen F; Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku Kawauchi, Sendai-shi, Miyagi, Japan., Nakanishi H; Faculty of Economics, Kanagawa University, Rokkakubashi Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan., Sekizawa Y; Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, Chiyoda-ku, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, Japan., Ochi S; Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato-ku Nishishinbashi, Tokyo, Japan., So M; Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, Ichikawa-shi, Sugano, Chiba, Japan.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2024 Jun 12; Vol. 19 (6), pp. e0305043. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 12 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305043
Abstrakt: Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns emerged that vaccinated individuals might engage less in infection-preventive behaviors, potentially contributing to virus transmission. This study evaluates the causal effects of COVID-19 vaccination on such behaviors within Japan, highlighting the significance of understanding behavioral dynamics in public health strategies.
Methods: Utilizing Japan's age-based vaccination priority for those born before April 1, 1957, this research employs a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to assess the vaccination's impact. Data from the fourth round of a longitudinal online survey, conducted from July 20 to 27, 2021, served as the basis for analyzing 14 infection-protective behaviors, including mask usage, handwashing, and avoiding crowds.
Results: A total of 12067 participants completed the survey. The analyzed sample size varied by outcome variable, ranging from 1499 to 5233. The analysis revealed no significant differences in the 14 behaviors examined among fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and unvaccinated individuals. This consistency across groups suggests that vaccination status did not significantly alter engagement in protective behaviors during the observation period.
Conclusions: Empirical findings highlight the complexity of behavioral responses following vaccination, indicating that such responses may be influenced by various factors, rather than by vaccination status alone. Additionally, this result underscores the importance of crafting public health policies that account for the intricate interplay between vaccination and behavior. This study contributes to the broader discourse on managing responses to the pandemic and tailoring interventions to sustain or enhance protective health behaviors amid vaccination rollouts.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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