Dryad
Published January 23, 2023 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Data and code for: Local infectious disease experience influences vaccine refusal rates: a natural experiment

Creators

  • 1. University of Glasgow

Description

Vaccination has been critical to the decline in infectious disease prevalence in recent centuries. Nonetheless, vaccine refusal has increased in recent years, with complacency associated with reductions in disease prevalence highlighted as an important contributor. We exploit a natural experiment in Glasgow at the beginning of the 20th century to investigate whether prior local experience of an infectious disease matters for vaccination decisions. Our study is based on smallpox surveillance data and administrative records of parental refusal to vaccinate their infants. We analyse variation between administrative units of Glasgow in cases and deaths from smallpox during two epidemics over the period 1900–1904, and vaccine refusal following its legalisation in Scotland in 1907 after a long period of compulsory vaccination. We find that lower local disease incidence and mortality during the epidemics were associated with higher rates of subsequent vaccine refusal. This finding indicates that complacency influenced vaccination decisions in periods of higher infectious disease risk, responding to local prior experience of the relevant disease, and has not emerged solely in the context of the generally low levels of infectious disease risk of recent decades. These results suggest that vaccine delivery strategies may benefit from information on local variation in incidence.

Notes

Usage notes

  1. The main analysis dataset: provided as an Excel spreadsheet that can be opened with Excel or open-source alternative such as OpenOffice.
  2. 'Related Works: Software': a link to the R code. This can be opened using R, R Studio or similar code editors, and run in R. This repository also contains Excel files and CSV files, as well as shapefiles. These can all be opened/imported into R using the code provided. Excel and CSV files can also be opened in Excel or open-source alternative such as OpenOffice. Shapefiles can be opened in R, or other GIS software such as the open-source software package QGIS.
  3. 'Related Works: Dataset': a link to a collection of shapefiles. Shapefiles can be opened in R, or other GIS software such as the open-source software package QGIS.

How to cite 

  • Reuse of the main analysis dataset and/or other information included in the R code repository: please cite the paper and this DataDryad record.
  • Reuse of the shapefile(s) only: please cite the paper and the shapefiles collection.

Citation for paper

Angelopoulos K, Stewart G, Mancy R. 2022 Local infectious disease experience influences vaccine refusal rates: a natural experiment. Proc. R. Soc. B 20221986. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1986

Citation for this DataDryad Record

Angelopoulos, Konstantinos; Mancy, Rebecca; Stewart, Gillian (2023), Data and code for Angelopoulos, Stewart and Mancy (2023) "Local infectious disease experience influences vaccine refusal rates: a natural experiment", Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences., Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hfx

Citation for shapefiles collection

Mancy, Rebecca. (2023). Shapefiles of administrative boundaries, Subway and main rivers in Glasgow, UK, around 1910 (1.0.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7550897

Funding provided by: Economic and Social Research Council
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
Award Number: ES/V005898/1

Funding provided by: Economic and Social Research Council
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000269
Award Number: ES/P000681/1

Funding provided by: Medical Research Council
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000265
Award Number: MC_UU_00022/4

Funding provided by: Chief Scientist Office
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000589
Award Number: SPHSU19

Funding provided by: Leckie Fellowship*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number:

Funding provided by: Erasmus+
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100010790
Award Number:

Funding provided by: University of Glasgow
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000853
Award Number: College of Social Sciences Strategic Research Fund

Files

README.md

Files (92.7 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:72b1ced4a5484497b9d8f8b4ba8bfdfe
90.0 kB Download
md5:1132ca16937c3e360ed2345af58f670d
2.6 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Related works

Is derived from
10.5281/zenodo.7551763 (DOI)
Is supplemented by
10.5281/zenodo.7550897 (DOI)