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PETITION: No to government and corporate penalties for refusing COVID-19 vaccine! Sign the petition here.

August 26, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Yale University is currently conducting a study on the effectiveness of various messages in getting people to take an eventual COVID-19 vaccine, ranging from appeals to self-interest to pressuring individuals for their reluctance.

Launched in July, the study of 4,000 people tests ten different messages to “compare the reported willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine at 3 and 6 months of it becoming available.” The messages appeal to “economic freedom,” “self-interest,” “community interest,” “economic benefit,” “guilt,” embarrassment,” “anger,” “trust in science” and “bravery.”

While several of the appeals are straightforward arguments, others hint at a willingness to use public shaming to elicit compliance. 

One, for instance, “asks the participant to imagine the guilt they will feel if they don't get vaccinated and spread the disease,” with variants exchanging guilt with anger or embarrassment. Another suggests someone who refuses vaccination “doesn't understand how infections are spread or who ignores science.” Another declares that “those who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are not brave.”

The eventual findings will likely influence the messaging of state officials and academic institutions who have discussed mandating vaccination, as well as advertising campaigns surrounding a vaccine once it is completed.

“Fear of a disease — which we know very little about, relative to other similar diseases — must not lead to knee-jerk reactions regarding public health, nor can it justify supporting the hidden agenda of governmental as well as non-governmental bodies that have apparent conflicts of interest in plans to restrict personal freedoms,” says LifeSiteNews’ ongoing petition against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, which has gathered more than 850,000 signatures.