Proof-of-Vax: Studying User Preferences and Perception of Covid Vaccination Certificates

TL;DR

This study evaluates user perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in Germany, finding high willingness to adopt, with a preference for paper-based formats and privacy concerns influencing digital app acceptance.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into user preferences and privacy perceptions regarding different vaccination certificate formats during the pandemic.

Findings

High willingness to use vaccination certificates.

Preference for paper-based over app-based certificates.

Privacy concerns reduce acceptance of digital vaccination apps.

Abstract

Digital tools play an important role in fighting the current global COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a representative online study in Germany on a sample of 599 participants to evaluate the user perception of vaccination certificates. We investigated five different variants of vaccination certificates, based on deployed and planned designs in a between-group design, including paper-based and app-based variants. Our main results show that the willingness to use and adopt vaccination certificates is generally high. Overall, paper-based vaccination certificates were favored over app-based solutions. The willingness to use digital apps decreased significantly by a higher disposition to privacy, and increased by higher worries about the pandemic and acceptance of the coronavirus vaccination. Vaccination certificates resemble an interesting use case for studying privacy perceptions for health related data. We hope that our work will be able to educate the currently ongoing design of vaccination certificates, will give us deeper insights into privacy of health-related data and apps, and prepare us for future potential applications of vaccination certificates and health apps in general.