Participation Beyond Compliance: Who Tried to Influence Other People's Vaccination Behaviour During the COVID-19 Crisis?

In this paper, we call for more attention to be paid to what we call ordinary contributions to public health policies: the propensity of ordinary citizens to actively influence others to follow or reject a health policy. Shifting the focus from personal compliance to active participation (i.e., ordinary contribution) raises distinct questions pertaining to self-empowerment, personal network composition and the public denunciation of antivaccinationism. We draw on a survey conducted during the summer of 2022 among a representative sample of the French public (n = 4004) to understand what made some people try to bear on other people's behaviours regarding COVID-19 vaccination. We asked respondents whether they tried to convince people in their various social circles to get vaccinated or to not get vaccinated. We found that a significant share of French people-especially the most vaccine-hesitant-kept their opinions to themselves. Controlling for vaccine hesitancy and concern regarding COVID-19, the propensity to engage in ordinary contributions was heavily influenced by relationship to politics. We discuss the overlapping between political competence and health literacy and the tensions that can arise in everyday discussions of issues at the interface of health and politics.