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Omission Bias In Vaccination Decision: Where's The "Omission"? Where's The "Bias"?, Terry Connolly, Jochen Reb

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Several studies have reported that parents are often reluctant to vaccinate their own or other people's children, even when the balance of health risks and benefits clearly favors vaccination. This reluctance has been interpreted as a manifestation of omission bias, a general tendency to prefer inactive to active options even when inaction leads to worse outcomes or greater risks. The research raises significant public health concerns as well as worries about human decision biases in general. In this paper we argue that existing research on vaccination decisions has not convincingly demonstrated any general reluctance to vaccinate nor has it made …