The rate at which a vaccine protects against COVID-19 appears to be the strongest factor in deciding whether to get vaccinated, according to research published in the March issue of PNAS.
Stanford (Calif.) Medicine researchers surveyed more than 1,000 people across the U.S. in August and December, presenting scenarios of varying vaccine efficacy, minor side effects and severe adverse reactions.
If vaccine efficacy is at least 70 percent, people are more likely to get vaccinated, the findings showed.
At the same time, minor side effects such as fever or a sore arm had little influence on respondents' likelihood of getting vaccinated. Serious side effects including anaphylaxis or temporary paralysis swayed respondents toward not getting the vaccine if the chances of developing the reactions were relatively high, such as 1/100,000, but had little effect when the chances were 1/1 million or 1/100 million.
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