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Akis Skertsos: Targeted vaccination encouragement is effective

The campaign in favor of the vaccine must from now on be more targeted, as the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, points out in his post on social media, highlighting at the same time the three distinct groups on the government radar, epidemiologists, etc. : Citizens over the age of 60 living in semi-urban areas, parents of primary and secondary school students and young couples considering having or expecting a child. Given the opportunity, however, Mr. Skertsos also makes the report of the special vaccination action with the freedom pass for the ages 18-25 years and the data pass for the ages 15-17 years.

In the first place, he described as “very positive” the fact that “opposition parties are launching vaccination campaigns, especially at a younger age. Vaccination and public health in general should not be a field of political controversy from the outset,” he said.

“In fact, in this phase of vaccination, communication in favor of the vaccine should no longer be general and horizontal. Instead, it must be more targeted and respond with specific messages and documentation to groups of the population with a low vaccination rate.

As is the case with the three new spots of Operation Freedom that are addressed to three distinct groups:

Citizens over the age of 60 who live in semi-urban areas and have not yet been vaccinated.

The parents of primary and secondary school students who are the youngest groups to have just recently acquired the right to vaccination.

“But also young couples who are thinking of having or expecting a child and are reluctant to be vaccinated.”

As, after all, every public policy must be evaluated in terms of its effectiveness, as he states, it is an opportunity “to take stock of the special vaccination action of young people planned and implemented by the government in the second half of 2021 with the freedom pass for the ages 18-25 years and the data pass for the ages 15-17 years.

Both policies fall into the realm of behavioral encouragement in favor of the vaccine, nudging. “Although strongly criticized by opposition parties when they were announced as ideological mechanisms of ‘redemption’ or ‘extortion’, they were eventually embraced by young people and used en masse, helping to increase vaccination in these groups.”

The details are as follows:

“On June 28, 2021, the day of the announcement of the freedom pass, only 15% of young people aged 18-25 were vaccinated. Their interest in vaccination until that day was sluggish as it is a relatively low risk group for severe viral disease. Six months later, the participation of this age group in the vaccination has exceeded 73% and about 560,000 young people have issued the freedom pass (ie 87% of the vaccinated 18-25 years old by 31/12).

On September 11, 2021, the day of the announcement of the data pass, only 20.5% of 15-17 year olds were vaccinated. On 31/12, 55% of high school students aged 15-17 have chosen to be vaccinated and of them about 108,000 – 63% by 31/12 – have used the data pass.

Why did these policies succeed? Quite simply because without unnecessary teaching, they linked vaccination to activities such as travel, culture and communication, which are familiar and particularly enjoyable to young people. “Incentives that reward positive behaviors in the public sphere are an extremely useful tool for public policy-making,” the Minister of State explained, closing his post.

SOURCE: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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