It’s amazing how inconveniences shapes us, our concerns and thinking more than we expect or imagine. For a while, we were all super concerned about the TraceTogether tracking app on our mobile phones and also having the token with us. And then because the pandemic continued and even worsened, when the government implemented mandatory use of it for ‘Safe-entry’ registrations into malls, people started using it. It was too difficult to challenge the regulations; and alternatives provided were too inconvenient.
Then comes vaccination. People had their concerns; and there were people thinking about which vaccine to take, and whether it was risky, etc. Well, I’d imagine there are many things we do such as crossing the road, driving a car, going to earthquake prone places which probably carries higher risks than getting vaccinated. But once regulations are such that vaccinated people have it easier when they enter places, participate in events because they either don’t have to be swabbed or if they allow the capacity of the events to be higher, than the practical thing to do is to get vaccinated.
Targeting the practical aspects of people works well. Especially when it is once-off and you just have to get it done and over with. Make the preferred alternative just slightly less inconvenient than the one you’re getting people to avoid, and you might just be able to get people to ‘do the right thing’.