Press Release

Vitality Releases Survey Results of 32k+ Members and Global Toolkit on COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance

Issued by Vitality

Mar. 2, 2021

Health and wellness company applying behavioral science strategies to drive uptake and incentivize people to get vaccinated around the world

Chicago -- Vitality Group, a global health and wellness company committed to making people healthier, released the findings of a survey of more than 32,000 of its members on their COVID-19 vaccine views. As part of its education efforts, the organization also launched a global toolkit with resources for employer and insurance clients, members and the broader community.

“A recent survey of our members found that approximately 30% have not decided or don’t plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine,” said Christine Brophy, Vice President, Behavior Change for Vitality. “Encouraging, educating, and incentivizing people to receive the vaccine is not only a means of fulfilling our mission, but our duty — one that can have a tremendous positive impact on public health. Our goal is to look back a year from now and know that we moved the needle for those that were hesitant about getting vaccinated. There is no health crisis more urgent and it’s crucial we play our role as employers and insurers to get the world to the other side of this pandemic.”

With more than 20 million members worldwide, Vitality is in a unique position to inform and motivate its members through social, behavioral science and environmental strategies to educate and incentivize people to get vaccinated. Many of the resources are also publicly available.

Included in the toolkit:

• A Blueprint and playbook for employers and insurers to drive behavior and encourage vaccine uptake with engagement strategies and best practices for messaging your people.
• Communication tools to equip organizations with a comprehensive suite of materials and information.
• Series of educational content including webinars, articles, video testimonials, shared best practices and website content.
• Guidance for members for getting vaccinated and incentives for doing so.

All these efforts are being measured through data insights offering a member resiliency index and analysis of vaccination and reinfection rates.

Additional survey results

The Vitality survey of its members was conducted online in January and February 2021 with 32,425 responses, additional findings include:

• More than 16% indicated they have already received the vaccine and 52% plan to get vaccinated.
• As males are historically more hesitant to participate in preventive care, unexpectedly they have a slightly higher percentage (71.3%) than females (67.6%) in responding positively about vaccination plans.
• On average, individuals that work in education and healthcare indicated the lowest rates of vaccine hesitancy. By contrast those in agriculture and oil and gas industries exhibited the highest rates of hesitancy.
• Higher rates of Vitality engagement are associated with better health behaviors, including a proclivity towards preventive actions like vaccinations. As such, it is not surprising that we found that healthier members – with a lower Vitality Age – are more likely to report that they have or will get the vaccine.

Vitality Group

Guided by a core purpose of making people healthier, Vitality is the leader in improving health to unlock outcomes that matter. By blending industry-leading smart tech, data, incentives and behavioral science, we inspire healthy changes in individuals and their organizations. As one of the largest wellness companies in the world, Vitality brings a dynamic and diverse perspective through successful partnerships with the most forward-thinking insurers and employers. More than 20 million people in 26 markets engage in the Vitality program. For more information, visit vitalitygroup.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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