Preferences of Vaccination for COVID-19 Among University Students and Staff: A Discrete Choice Experiment

From March 2021, COVID-19 vaccines have been made available to Hong Kong residents, first to priority groups including healthcare professionals and the elderly, and later to all adults and adolescents. Vaccinated individuals are generally exempted from mandatory regular out-of-pocket antigen testing. Vaccinated individuals of university halls and colleges of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) will also be exempted from mandatory weekly antigen testing. Freedom of choice is highly respected in the HKU community and as such, we would like to better understand the decision-making process among members of the HKU community. The anonymised results of this independent research study will help us understand preferences among the HKU community and inform on future vaccination planning policies.

Objectives: To elicit HKU staff and students' preferences and their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for COVID-19 vaccination in Hong Kong

Design: An online cross-sectional internet-based questionnaire with a discrete choice experiment (DCE) design distributed via email. All current students and staff from the University of Hong Kong are eligible to participate in the study

Main outcome measures: Preferences for the efficacy of protecting against infection, against severe disease manifestations, duration of protection, risk of adverse events, incentives, and out-of-pocket costs