Limits of the Social Benefit Motive Among High-risk Patients: a Field Experiment on Influenza Vaccination Behaviour

Influenza vaccine uptake remains low worldwide, inflicting substantial costs to public health and health systems. Messages promoting social welfare have been shown to increase vaccination intentions, and it has been recommended that health professionals communicate the socially beneficial aspects of vaccination. This study aims to provide the first test whether this prosocial vaccination hypothesis applies to the actual vaccination behaviour of high-risk patients by comparing the effects of two motivational messages for promoting vaccination at a tertiary care public hospital in Istanbul, Turkey.