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COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India

Last registered on October 03, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0009098
Initial registration date
March 15, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 15, 2022, 8:08 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
October 03, 2022, 11:46 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
India
Region
Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar

Primary Investigator

Name
Sneha Shashidhara
Affiliation
CSBC
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Shardul Vaidya
PI Affiliation
CSBC
PI Name
Selva Shwetha
PI Affiliation
CSBC
PI Name
Sharon Barnhardt
PI Affiliation
CSBC
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Pavan Mamidi
PI Affiliation
CSBC
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-03-23
End date
2022-05-15
Keywords
Behavior, Health
Additional Keywords
Vaccination, Covid-19, Hesitancy
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We intend to conduct a large in-person survey in rural India to understand the determinants of vaccine hesitancy amongst a primarily unvaccinated sample. Our study will be conducted in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with an exclusive focus on data collection from rural areas. Our survey will empirically estimate demand for the vaccine, the determinants of this demand or the lack thereof, and hurdles due to supply-side issues. We will also collect information about knowledge related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, adherence to COVID-19 protective measures, media consumption and demographics to serve as covariates in our analysis. In addition to the survey, we also intend to test behaviourally informed communications interventions that we hypothesise could improve vaccine agency amongst our sample. Our sample size will be about 6000 respondents and roughly representative of the rural population of each state.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shashidhara, Sneha et al. 2022. "COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India." AEA RCT Registry. October 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9098-2.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
At the end of the survey, participants will watch short videos that target COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, hesitancy concerning getting their children vaccinated for COVID-19 and mask-wearing behaviour.
Intervention Start Date
2022-03-23
Intervention End Date
2022-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Intention to get vaccinated, Main barriers to vaccination, and Problems faced during vaccination
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We plan to conduct the survey using the proportional sampling method (based on the 2011 Census) in 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 12 districts of Bihar. Within these districts, eight villages will be randomly selected for data collection. Each of these villages is sampled entirely, ensuring proportionate sampling. Participants are first screened on vaccination status. All unvaccinated participants will proceed to the survey, and 10% of participants with one dose and 10% of participants with two doses will complete the survey.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The recruitment of the participants for the survey does not include randomisation. All unvaccinated participants and 10% of participants with one dose and two vaccination doses pass the screening and complete the entire survey. For the Intervention videos, the participants are randomly assigned to one of 3 arms (vaccinated participants) or one of 7 arms (unvaccinated participants).
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
6000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
6000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
680 per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We intend to recruit around 6,000 subjects for the study, which allows us to calculate sample estimates for vaccine hesitancy outcomes for the ~247 million rural population of UP and Bihar with a 99% confidence interval and margin of error of about 1.7%.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ashoka Institutional Review Board (IRB)
IRB Approval Date
2021-12-28
IRB Approval Number
30_21_Barnhardt
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Sabin_PAP_final.docx

MD5: 76c823ff529bebba8f88c638fec82f60

SHA1: b730f4dec9a2abf2847d7a3b935436a9cb308a73

Uploaded At: March 15, 2022

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
May 30, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 30, 2022, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
6319 subjects
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
6319 subjects
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
~2106 per vaccination status
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
While vaccine hesitancy has been a large part of the COVID-19 vaccination discourse in India, there is a significant lack of empirical evidence about hesitancy in rural India. To bridge this gap, we conducted a quasi-representative, inperson survey spanning 32 districts across rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India to comprehensively characterize the barriers to vaccination and understand the attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. We surveyed 6319 adults during April and May of 2022, of which 36% were unvaccinated, 33% were partially vaccinated, and 31% were fully vaccinated. Overall, there was a high intention to get vaccinated among the unvaccinated, with only 20% saying they would never get a vaccine for COVID. We use probit models to estimate the relationships between demographic variables and being vaccinated and the associations between stated barriers and vaccination status. The primary barriers were pregnancy and breastfeeding, and pre-existing medical conditions. The unvaccinated had lower vaccine-related knowledge, more misinformation, and less vaccine-related trust in medical professionals but assigned similar importance to COVID-appropriate behaviors. We also establish a high intention to vaccinate children against COVID, although it varies among adult vaccination statuses, with unvaccinated parents being the least willing to vaccinate their children
Citation
Shashidhara, S., Barnhardt, S., Mukherjee, S. (2023). COVID-19 Vaccination Status and Hesitancy: Survey Evidence from Rural India. In: Gupta, I., Das, M. (eds) Contextualizing the COVID Pandemic in India. India Studies in Business and Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4906-9_11
URL
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-4906-9_11

Reports & Other Materials