Distorted Human Decision-Making as a Critical Aspect of Pandemic Planning and Preparedness

• Published in: The Yale journal of biology & medicine Vol. 95; no. 2; pp. 281 - 292
• Main Authors: Poland, Caroline M, Ratishvili, Tamar, Poland, Gregory A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Haven Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 30.06.2022; YJBM
• Series: Focus: Vaccines
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccines; Decision making; Pandemics; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Vaccination; United States > US
• ISSN: 0044-0086; 1551-4056

The United States continues to experience lower than expected vaccination rates against COVID-19 due to a variety of barriers such as lack of trust, lack of planning, cultural perspectives and issues, suboptimal communication, and political/economic conflicts of interest. In this paper issues of human behavior and decision-making are highlighted as integral to understanding the generally poor US response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In particular, the US pandemic response was significantly distorted through a combination of cultural and human behavior issues related to conflicting leadership, cultural individualism, the prevalent idea of the democratization of expertise, and a false epistemological lens for decision-making. Including experts from multiple disciplines reveals how to address the human behavioral side of pandemic planning and operations to increase vaccine coverage rates. Including content experts from psychology and the social sciences allows the explicit recognition and preparation for distorted human behavior in planning for future pandemic response.