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Background: Public hesitancy towards Covid-19 vaccines remains a major hurdle for mass vaccination programs today. While mRNA vaccines are more efficacious than conventional vaccines, it is unknown how much the novelty of this technology increases hesitancy. Methods: We quantify this "novelty penalty" in a large online experiment with 35,173 adults in nine countries. Subjects were randomly selected and assigned to one of two vaccine groups (conventional or mRNA), and one of five hypothetical inoculation rate groups (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, or 80%). Subjects reported their willingness to accept the Covid-19 vaccine on a five-point Likert scale. Results: The novelty of the mRNA vaccine technology reduces the odds of a higher level of vaccine acceptance by 14.2% (odds ratio 0.858; p < 0.001). On the other hand, we find that social conformity reduces vaccine hesitancy. At a 0% inoculation rate, 31.7% report that they are "very likely" to get a mRNA vaccine while at a 20% inoculation rate, willingness jumps to 49.6%. Conclusions: The novelty of the mRNA vaccine increases hesitancy, but social conformity reduces it. A small group of early adopters can provide momentum for vaccination.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: It is known that cardiac surgical patients with diabetes have greater peri-operative mortality and morbidity when compared with nondiabetic patients; the rate of adverse events in other surgery subspecialties has been only investigated minimally. The aim of this study was to test the magnitude of association between overt diabetes mellitus and postoperative complications across a spectrum of noncardiac surgical patients. METHODS: Prospective outcome data registries describing 1,343 data sets from a spectrum of surgical subspecialties were examined to establish the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes, the incidence of intra- and postoperative complications, and the difference in proportion of morbidity between diabetic versus nondiabetic patients. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in overall morbidity between diabetic and nondiabetic patients with a 2.0 and 1.6 times increased morbidity risk in known diabetic patients with and without malignancy, respectively. Known diabetes was related to the number of postoperative complications in noncardiovascular patients. CONCLUSION: This study quantified the association between known diabetes and the occurrence of complications during recovery after a spectrum of noncardiac surgery. Because of a high prevalence of prediabetic and undiagnosed conditions, the strength of associations between glucose dysregulation and operative outcomes may be even greater than we report.