The Dutch are happy with the introduction of a vaccination certificate, in order to encourage people to get vaccinated against the corona virus. Such evidence gives more freedom to people who do take the vaccine, for example to continue shopping during an outbreak or to attend major events that are difficult to keep your distance.
This is shown by representative research by scientists from TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam, RIVM, Maastricht University and Roskilde University in Denmark.
Even respondents who do not intend to vaccinate themselves are in favor of such vaccination evidence. That surprised the researchers.
Reward rather than punish
In the study, 1640 Dutch people were subjected to a choice experiment. The participants (representative of the adult population in terms of age, gender and education level) had to choose between two plans nine times. How can the government best stimulate vaccination? The options ranged from a campaign with celebrities getting themselves vaccinated publicly to making people pay extra for health insurance if they refuse a vaccination.
Vaccination certificate light
The results show that the Dutch prefer to reward rather than punish, and that we would rather make it as easy as possible than require vaccination. These two plans came out on top:
The researchers call these two winning plans the ‘vaccination proof light’, because the measure would only take effect when all Dutch people have been given the opportunity to be vaccinated. And because option one only applies to an outbreak in a region and option two only concerns major events.
The small group of respondents who are absolutely against such evidence cite objections that its introduction is a violation of privacy, may not be legally permitted and is prone to fraud. Some also fear that this will create a division in society.
Help with vaccination strategy
Not all of the nine plans from the study are being considered by the Dutch government. The options presented to the participants are a combination of plans that the government is thinking about (which they are, the study does not say), ideas from abroad and policies that are not considered at all. The researchers hope that the government will use their study to align the vaccination strategy as much as possible with the preferences of the Dutch.
See also: The Netherlands will soon be vaccinated against corona
