ABSTRACT
From the start of the pandemic, public health officials stated that in the end the outbreak would be controlled once a vaccine had been developed for this new virus. Until then, there would have to be reliance on public behaviour restrictions. There were warnings that it might take two or three years to develop effective vaccines. In fact, it took less than a year. A number of vaccines were developed and approved as safe for public use and they each provided very good levels of protection against infection and more especially against becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Yet, to be effective across populations, public compliance would again be needed in the form of a willingness on the part of individuals to get vaccinated. There were people who were not willing to do so. Their doubts were often fuelled by scary stories circulating in the media and in public gossip, but especially on the Internet. Studies of vaccination behaviour were constructed around the world that were again guided by nudge theory, social identity/group processes theory, the theory of planned behaviour and the COM-B model. This international research effort is reviewed and each of the four models was found to offer some explanatory value and useful guidance for communications strategies designed to persuade people to get vaccinated.
