Vaccine Metaphors

This paper presents a study on the effects of different metaphors for people鈥檚 perceptions of and communication about vaccinations:

Flusberg, S. J., Mackey, A. and Semino, E. (2024)听Seatbelts and Raincoats, or Banks and Castles: Investigating the Impact of Vaccine Metaphors,听PLoS ONE听19(1): e0294739.听

The study tested different metaphors for five vaccine-related questions. Below are the five questions and links to animated versions of some of the metaphors that were tested in the study.

  1. How do vaccines work? A Castle metaphor:
  2. Is 鈥榥atural immunity鈥� better than vaccine-induced immunity? A Fire drill metaphor:听
  3. Are vaccines that are developed quickly safe? A Cake metaphor:听
  4. Why take a vaccine if I鈥檓 at low risk from the illness? A Speed Limit metaphor:听
  5. Why take a vaccine if it isn鈥檛 100% effective? A Raincoat metaphor:听