COVID-19 vaccination, risk-compensatory behaviours, and contacts in the UK

John Buckell; Joel Jones; Philippa C Matthews; Sir Ian Diamond; Emma Rourke; Ruth Studley; Duncan Cook; Ann Sarah Walker; Koen B Pouwels; COVID-19 Infection Survey Team

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-34244-2

COVID-19 vaccination, risk-compensatory behaviours, and contacts in the UK

Sci Rep. 2023 May 25;13(1):8441. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-34244-2.

Authors

John Buckell^{1

2

3}, Joel Jones⁴, Philippa C Matthews^{5

6

7}, Sir Ian Diamond⁴, Emma Rourke⁴, Ruth Studley⁴, Duncan Cook⁴, Ann Sarah Walker^{8

9

10

11}, Koen B Pouwels^{12

10}; COVID-19 Infection Survey Team

Collaborators

COVID-19 Infection Survey Team:
Tina Thomas, Daniel Ayoubkhani, Russell Black, Antonio Felton, Megan Crees, Joel Jones, Lina Lloyd, Esther Sutherland, Emma Pritchard, Karina-Doris Vihta, George Doherty, James Kavanagh, Kevin K Chau, Stephanie B Hatch, Daniel Ebner, Lucas Martins Ferreira, Thomas Christott, Wanwisa Dejnirattisai, Juthathip Mongkolsapaya, Sarah Cameron, Phoebe Tamblin-Hopper, Magda Wolna, Rachael Brown, Richard Cornall, Gavin Screaton, Stuart Cox, Kevin Paddon, Tim James, Thomas House, Julie Robotham, Paul Birrell, Helena Jordan, Tim Sheppard, Graham Athey, Dan Moody, Leigh Curry, Pamela Brereton, Ian Jarvis, Anna Godsmark, George Morris, Bobby Mallick, Phil Eeles, Jodie Hay, Harper VanSteenhouse, Jessica Lee, Sean White, Tim Evans, Lisa Bloemberg, Katie Allison, Anouska Pandya, Sophie Davis, David I Conway, Margaret MacLeod, Chris Cunningham, Katrina Lythgoe, David Bonsall, Tanya Golubchik, Helen Fryer

Affiliations

¹ Health Economics Research Centre, Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK. [email protected].
² Health Behaviours, Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. [email protected].
³ The National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. [email protected].
⁴ Office for National Statistics, Newport, UK.
⁵ The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London, NW1 1AT, UK.
⁶ Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, Gower St, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁷ Department of Infection, University College London Hospitals, 235 Euston Rd, London, NW1 2BU, UK.
⁸ The National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁹ Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁰ The National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance at the University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹¹ MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, UCL, London, UK.
¹² Health Economics Research Centre, Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7LF, UK.

Abstract

The physiological effects of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) are well documented, yet the behavioural effects not well known. Risk compensation suggests that gains in personal safety, as a result of vaccination, are offset by increases in risky behaviour, such as socialising, commuting and working outside the home. This is potentially important because transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is driven by contacts, which could be amplified by vaccine-related risk compensation. Here, we show that behaviours were overall unrelated to personal vaccination, but-adjusting for variation in mitigation policies-were responsive to the level of vaccination in the wider population: individuals in the UK were risk compensating when rates of vaccination were rising. This effect was observed across four nations of the UK, each of which varied policies autonomously.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines* / adverse effects
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
United Kingdom / epidemiology
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding