How can we incentivise people to get vaccinated?

Vaccines are protective interventions that can have a long-lasting impact on our health. Although in public minds vaccines are associated with diseases that were thought to be eradicated in many western countries, COVID-19 has brought them back to the spotlight. What defines vaccines is that they are provided to healthy individuals, hence their value lies in their ‘preventive or protective effect’, and in getting enough people to get vaccinated so as to give rise to herd immunity. However, vaccine availability does not necessarily entail widespread vaccination. A share of the population in almost all societies refuses to get vaccinated. Hence, actual vaccination is not just the result of access, but the acceptability of specific vaccines. It’s important to understand those who refuse to get vaccinated, and how to change their minds.