COVID Vaccine Hesitancy

PI: Prof Susan Athey
Estimating and treating COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy through contextual bandits and chatbot optimization

Problem

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been recognized as a problem across nations. A resistance to getting vaccinated is emerging as a major hurdle, especially in the developing world, where vaccine access issues are still being gradually resolved. Persistent pools of unvaccinated people around the world could present a greater risk for the emergence of new variants of concern. Addressing people’s vaccine hesitancy is hence crucial to curb the spread of COVID-19, and to consequently avert hospitalizations and death.

Objectives

The first phase of our project has the following objectives:

  1. Understand why people are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccines
  2. Understand ways to best elicit vaccine impediments from respondents
  3. Pinpoint what treatments will help people get vaccinated