Overcoming vaccine hesitancy: Evidence from Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: Here we investigate whether releasing COVID-19 vaccines at open-day events boosted Italy's vaccination campaign in 2021. This strategy exploits insights from psychology. Study design: We built an original dataset covering 200 days of vaccination data in Italy, including “open day” events. Open-day events (in short: open days) are instances where COVID-19 vaccines were released only for a specific day at a specified location (usually, a large pavilion or a public building). Importantly, releasing vaccines through open days instead of the usual appointment channel leaves the supply of vaccines unaltered. Our dependent variables are the number of total and first doses administered in proportion to the eligible population. Our key independent variable is the presence of open-day events in a given region on a specific day. Methods: We analyzed the data using regression with fixed effects for time and region. The analysis was robust to alternative model specifications. Results: We find that when an open day event was organized, in proportion to the eligible population, there was an average 0.39–0.44 percentage point increase in total doses administered and a 0.30–0.33 percentage point increase in first doses administered. These figures correspond to an average increase of 10,455–11,796 in total doses administered and 8,043–8,847 in the first doses administered. Conclusions: Releasing vaccines by organizing open-day events was associated with an increase in COVID-19 vaccinations in most Italian regions. These results call for further study of the effectiveness of open days to increase vaccinations and protect against other infectious diseases or future pandemics.