Vaccine hesitancy remains one of the greatest challenges for global health. Previous research has shown that the recruitment of rational processes is increased in hypothetical decision-making scenarios when the underpinning information is presented in a foreign language. We investigate whether vaccine campaigns could benefit from this Foreign Language Effect (FLE) in order to overcome vaccine hesitancy. We conceptually replicated a recent study on COVID-19 vaccine campaigns (Freeman et al. 2021) to assess whether information can more successfully reduce vaccine hesitancy when presented in a foreign language as well as how other factors, such as language proficiency, impact the FLE. Based on a survey of 436 participants, we conclude that there may be the potential to lower vaccine hesitancy among individuals with English as a foreign language by presenting information in English, rather than in their native language. Conversely, participants who are native speakers of English and negatively predisposed against the COVID-19 vaccine react more negatively to information they read in a foreign language compared to their native language.

中文翻译：

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克服 COVID-19 疫苗犹豫：外语效应调查


疫苗犹豫仍然是全球卫生面临的最大挑战之一。先前的研究表明，在假设的决策场景中，当基础信息以外语呈现时，理性过程的招募会增加。我们调查了疫苗运动是否可以从这种外语效应 （FLE） 中受益，以克服疫苗犹豫。我们从概念上复制了最近一项关于 COVID-19 疫苗运动的研究（Freeman 等人，2021 年），以评估以外语呈现的信息是否可以更成功地减少疫苗犹豫，以及其他因素（例如语言熟练度）如何影响 FLE。根据对 436 名参与者的调查，我们得出结论，通过用英语而不是母语提供信息，有可能降低英语作为外语的个体的疫苗犹豫。相反，与母语相比，以英语为母语且对 COVID-19 疫苗有负面倾向的参与者对他们用外语阅读的信息的反应更为负面。