Beyond fragmentary: A proposed measure for travel vaccination concerns

The Social Contagion Potential of Pro-Vaccine Messages on Black Twitter

Black Americans in the US not only suffered from disproportionately high hospitalization and death rates throughout the pandemic but also from the consequences of low COVID-19 vaccination rates. This pattern of disparity is linked to distrust of public health systems that originates from a history of medical atrocities committed against Black people. For that reason, mitigation of race-based inequity in COVID-19 impacts might find more success in grassroots information contagion than official public health campaigns. While Black Twitter is well-positioned as a conduit for such information contagion, little is known about message characteristics that would afford it. Here, we tested the impact of four different message frames (personalization, interactive, fear appeal, neutral) on the social contagion potential of bi-modal social media messages promoting COVID-19 vaccinations and finding personalized messages to be the most shareable. Wary of recommending personalization as the blueprint for setting a social contagion health campaign in motion, we probed further to understand the influence of individual-level variables on the communicability of personalized messages. Subsequently, regression models and focus group data were consulted, revealing that thinking styles, vaccine confidence levels, and attitudes toward social media were significant factors of influence on the contagion potential of personalized messages. We discussed the implications of these results for health campaigns.

Psychological and Social Aspects of Vaccination Hesitancy-Implications for Travel Medicine in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Crisis: A Narrative Review

Vaccines are an important tool of preventive medicine. Although organized vaccination programs have saved large populations from serious infectious diseases, there is a considerable part of the population who oppose vaccinations. In particular, anti-vaccination perceptions, among travelers to countries with endemic diseases, are a major public health concern. Although hesitancy towards vaccinations is not a novel phenomenon, it came back to the forefront during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. This review explores the etiology of anti-vaccination beliefs among travelers and draws conclusions about their impact on public health and society in general. For this purpose, a purposeful search for data on the causative factors of vaccine hesitancy and their impact on people's health was conducted. A descriptive analysis of the findings and conclusions regarding possible implications in health policy and clinical practice are presented. A fear of side effects, lack of credence in the necessity of vaccines, and mistrust of medical authorities are important causative factors. Their interplay shapes hesitancy towards vaccines. However, anti-vaccination beliefs can also be an aspect of a more general unconventional stance of life. Health care professionals and organizations must be ready to tackle vaccine hesitancy by making the necessary interventions. Correcting misconceptions about vaccinations is a prerequisite for ensuring personal and public health, especially in the context of a pandemic or epidemic. Moreover, ensuring the efficacy and safety of vaccines, especially in cases of modern technology applications, is a fundamental factor in addressing people's concerns about vaccines. For this purpose, medical authorities and organizations must provide accurate and clear information on vaccines so as to eliminate misinformation. Furthermore, clinicians should cultivate their communication skills in order to convey the appropriate messages to prospective recipients of vaccinations.

Vaccination as a social practice: towards a definition of personal, community, population, and organizational vaccine literacy

BACKGROUND

A comprehensive and agreed-upon definition of vaccine literacy (VL) could support the understanding of vaccination and help policy-makers and individuals make informed decisions about vaccines.

METHODS

To shed some light on this debate and provide clarity, a scoping review was conducted to collect, summarize, and analyse available definitions of VL. Based on the findings of the scoping review, a new and comprehensive definition was proposed by a panel of experts.

RESULTS

Fifty-three articles were included, and two of them appeared to be the milestones around which the other definitions were grouped. The new definition proposed by the panel of experts included not only the personal perspective, but also the community, population, and organizational perspectives. Moreover, due to the increasing complexity of the social context with respect to the ability to navigate, understand, and use information and services, the definition of organizational vaccine literacy and the attributes of a vaccine literate healthcare organization have been proposed.

CONCLUSION

The new definition can contribute to the overall paradigm of health literacy and its distinct component of vaccine literacy, possibly improving the implementation of public health strategies to allow vaccination to be understood as a social practice by the entire community. This study describes the conceptual foundations, the competencies, and the civic orientation to be considered when developing measurement tools devoted to assessing VL at the different levels and in different contexts.

The Impact of COVID-19 Vaccine Passport on Air Travelers’ Booking Decision and Companies’ Financial Value

The ongoing debate about vaccine passport policies for dealing with COVID-19 has necessitated analyzing its effectiveness in the airline and tourism industry. This study was purposed to analyze how vaccine passports are evaluated by multiple stakeholders, such as airline investors and passengers for leisure/vacation purposes. The findings of the first study show that the implementation of vaccine passports is positively evaluated by airline investors. The results of the second study highlight the role of vaccine passports in reducing perceived health risks, which is integral to leisure travelers’ decision making. This study offers a theoretical lens to understand the value of vaccine passports and provides guidance for airline companies and tourism marketers in deciding whether to implement a vaccine passport policy.

Why should I vaccinate? The role of mindfulness and health-protective behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective

Health maintenance of the general public through vaccination is a significant component of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the perception of Nigerians toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: Informed by the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), 793 Nigerian participants completed a cross-sectional self-administered online survey to assess: (1) their perception of COVID-19 based on fear-mongering information on social media (2) the potential relationship between threat perception, efficacy, and fear associated with the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, and attitudes toward the decision to uptake the vaccine using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, and (3) we further employed the use of the hierarchical regression analysis to test the moderating effect of mindful critical thinking between vaccine hesitancy and attitudes toward vaccines.

Results

Most participants (65.7%) intend to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. However, many people did not fear the disease (19.2%). Threat perception and efficacy were associated with a decision to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine via the mediation of attitudes toward vaccines. Previous vaccine hesitancy has no relationship with uptake decisions. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that participants exhibiting high critical thinking mindfulness were more interested in taking the vaccine.

Conclusions

The findings of this study demonstrate that EPPM constructs are effective predictors of the public's decision to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine. This research highlights the theoretical and practical implications.

Living with HIV and Getting Vaccinated: A Narrative Review

After 40 years of its appearance, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection remains a leading public health challenge worldwide. Since the introduction of antiretroviral treatment (ART), HIV infection has become a chronic condition, and people living with HIV could have life expectancies close to those of the general population. People with HIV often have an increased risk of infection or experience more severe morbidity following exposure to vaccine-preventable diseases. Nowadays, several vaccines are available against bacteria and viruses. However, national and international vaccination guidelines for people with HIV are heterogeneous, and not every vaccine is included. For these reasons, we aimed to perform a narrative review about the vaccinations available for adults living with HIV, reporting the most updated studies performed for each vaccine among this population. We performed a comprehensive literature search through electronic databases (Pubmed-MEDLINE and Embase) and search engines (Google Scholar). We included English peer-reviewed publications (articles and reviews) on HIV and vaccination. Despite widespread use and guideline recommendations, few vaccine trials have been conducted in people with HIV. In addition, not all vaccines are recommended for people with HIV, especially for those with low CD4 cells count. Clinicians should carefully collect the history of vaccinations and patients' acceptance and preferences and regularly check the presence of antibodies for vaccine-preventable pathogens.

Present and prospective research themes for tourism and hospitality education post-COVID19: A bibliometric analysis

Academic research in tourism and hospitality sector adds value directly to the way the industry grows and develops. Scholars in this area struggle with the pressures to publish in high ranking journals. The present study attempts to help doctoral students and tourism educators in identifying emerging themes in the tourism and hospitality arising out after COVID-19 pandemic. Using bibliometric analysis, five broad areas of emerging research themes are identified. Such research would further help managers, tourism related state administrators, and firm owners to recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the industry across the world.

Effectiveness of message framing in changing COVID-19 vaccination intentions: Moderating role of travel desire

This research examines the effectiveness of message framing, message appeal and information content in changing respondents' COVID-19 vaccination intentions through influencing their vaccine risk perceptions. Furthermore, the moderating effect of travel desire on the relationship between vaccine risk perceptions and changing vaccination intentions is examined. In doing so, two rounds of data that were collected from the same respondents. The first survey recorded respondents' vaccination intentions, travel desire and socio demographics. A follow up survey tested cause-and-effect relationships on the proposed relationships using a 2 (message frame: gain, loss) x 2 (message appeal: rational, emotional) ×2 (information content: subjective, objective) between-subjects online experimental design. Findings suggest that loss-framed messages are more effective than gain-framed and emotional-rational messages in reducing risk perceptions and, thus, changing vaccination intentions. Travel desire is found to moderate the effect of vaccine risk perception on vaccination intentions by weakening the negative effect of vaccine risk perception on vaccination intention. Findings show the importance of travel desire along with message framing and message appeal on changing individuals' COVID-19 vaccination intentions in public health communications.

Increasing vaccination intention in pandemic times: a social marketing perspective

With the release of several COVID-19 vaccines, hopes for ending the pandemic have emerged. However, the uptake of the vaccines is largely voluntary and depends on the intentions of the public. From a social marketing perspective, this study takes the case of Italy to identify and test factors that are likely to increase COVID-19-vaccine intention. A sample of 3893 respondents was collected throughout Italy and a model empirically tested by structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that a social marketing campaign for undertaking COVID-19 vaccines should educate the public, going beyond just safety and efficacy, and create positive social norms by combatting misinformation on various platforms, including social media. Furthermore, it was found that economic hardship from COVID-19 does not automatically translate to vaccination intention and that social marketing campaigns should particularly target economically vulnerable and important segments. Also, instilling a craving for travel could potentially stimulate citizens to undertake COVID-19 inoculation. Finally, contributions and implications for social marketing COVID-19 vaccines in Italy and elsewhere are addressed.

Using the Health Belief Model to examine travelers' willingness to vaccinate and support for vaccination requirements prior to travel

Data from a survey of 1478 travelers and multistep group structural equation model analysis revealed that the Health Belief Model constructs of cues to action (trust in third-party information sources), perceived severity of and susceptibility to COVID-19, and beliefs about the protection benefits of a COVID-19 vaccine, subsequently elicited willingness to vaccinate and beliefs that others should vaccinate prior to travel and enhanced support for pre-travel vaccination mandates. Also, significant differences in the perceived protection benefits of the vaccine and willingness to vaccinate were found across groups of travelers who travel more or less frequently and those with and without a prior positive test for COVID-19. The study provides a theoretically informed understanding of the dynamics that may enable the success of important health-related travel policy in the wake of COVID-19 and future pandemics and identifies the communication mechanisms that must be leveraged by governments and travel authorities in enforcing policy.

Travel vaccination examined through the tourism lens

Travel vaccination hesitancy—a shared concern of travel medicine and tourism.

Coping mechanisms of Philippine tourism and hospitality family businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic: a non-parametric approach

Purpose

Family businesses (FB), mostly small-sized, dominate the tourism and hospitality industry (THI), especially in the rural areas. While many would have been used to the impact of demand seasonality, it is unknown how these businesses would have survived through the restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as compared to non-family business (NFB) counterparts. This study aims to determine if there were differences on how family and non-family enterprises in the THI coped with government restrictions.

Design/methodology/approach

By subjecting the survey data from tourism enterprises to non-parametric techniques, the authors establish empirical evidence on similarities and differences of coping strategies adopted by FBs and NFBs; their required support from government and their perceptions of a post-pandemic THI.

Findings

The analysis revealed that family-owned tourism and hospitality businesses in the Philippines tended to collaborate with other businesses to manage the impact of the pandemic restrictions. Since they hired more seasonal workers prior to the restrictions, they tended to avoid hiring workers during the restricted period. NFBs, on the other hand, that were generally larger in size and more professionally managed with more regular employees, tended to streamline operations for greater efficiency.

Research limitations/implications

The study relied on survey results distributed and collected online. There is an innate bias against those firms that did not have access to the survey links.

Practical implications

The comparative study suggests that interventions to assist firms in the THI should consider the differences in firm ownership as “one size does not fit all.”

Social implications

The study provides evidence about how environmental factors impact the operations of family firms. Thus, it provides valuable insights for both the academic community and industry practitioners.

Originality/value

This is the first study in the Philippines that was able to capture response of family and non-family firms in the THI during the COVID-19 lockdown.

A bibliometric review of research on COVID-19 and tourism: Reflections for moving forward

By adopting a bibliometric analysis approach, this study systematically reviews and retrospectively analyses the rapidly emerging literature on COVID-19 in tourism and hospitality. A co-word analysis revealed the intellectual structure of 177 papers (published until January 2021) consisting of four major themes discussing the following various issues: 1) the impact of COVID-19 on tourist decision-making, destination marketing, technology adoption, and tourists' well-being; 2) the future of tourism post COVID-19; 3) managing change in tourism; and 4) the COVID-19's impacts on tourism and hospitality stakeholders. The findings show that preliminary publications tend to be descriptive, pre-mature and theoretical, i.e. most studies advocate and re-imagine a more sustainable, responsible and equitable post-pandemic tourism, but almost no research investigates in-depth whether, why and how such theoretical proclamations are being materialized or not and/or whether they will remain a COVID-19 induced fuss. The paper concludes by offering various directions and propositions for future research.