Vaccination policies : Behavior and public policy evaluation

Overview & Synopsis

The discovery of vaccination was a key element in preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Thus, public policymakers have implemented vaccination campaigns in order to achieve herd immunity. This thesis consists of three case studies of vaccination campaigns in France and Europe. The first chapter studies the hepatitis B vaccination campaign that was implemented in schools in 1994 France. We show that this vaccination campaign increased the uptake of hepatitis B vaccination among children but also had a negative spillover effect on measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates. The second chapter investigates the causal impact of sending a letter inviting vaccination on vaccination decision-making during the 2014 influenza vaccination campaign. The results show a small increase in the probability of getting the flu vaccine, with risk-averse individuals responding more strongly to the vaccination campaign. The last chapter examines the effect of European vaccination campaigns on vaccination behavior. The results show a small increase in the use of influenza vaccination, on average, in Europe, but also that individuals living in countries with free access to the vaccine respond more to the vaccination campaign.