Dr. Broniatowski Works to Increase Vaccination Rates in New Study


January 25, 2023

David Broniatowski

Dr. David Broniatowski, Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering and Associate Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics (IDDP), contributed to the study, “Economic risk framing increases intention to vaccinate among Republican COVID-19 vaccine refusers” alongside fellow IDDP researcher, Wei Zhong.

Professor Broniatowski had this to say regarding this work, "I am excited to share a new study co-authored with Wei Zhong, my incredible postdoc (who will soon be on the job market!) which has been published in Social Science & Medicine. Viruses do not care about our political persuasions. The best way to stop the spread of disease is for all of us to work together, regardless of political persuasion. This means that we have to listen to one another's concerns and make the case for vaccination in a way that addresses those concerns in an empathetic manner. We hope that this paper provides one example of how to do so. Our study shows that it's important to consider the specific motivations and concerns of different groups when promoting vaccines. Simply writing off members of any group as unreachable in a highly-polarized environment is not a helpful or accurate approach. Together, we can beat this and future pandemics, if we're willing to listen."