Perceiving Freedom: Civil Liberties and COVID-19 Vaccinations

Why have some countries been more successful in their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts than others? Despite efforts by governments to vaccinate their adult populations against COVID-19, vaccination rates remain irregularly low in some countries. We suggest that a crucial piece of this puzzle lies in resistance against government directives from the public due to civil liberty protections. Countries with greater protections for civil liberties can be expected to have lower vaccinations administered than countries with fewer protections, as the public enjoys a sense of freedom regarding their private lives. In such countries, de jure constraints on government policies are complemented by the fear of public backlash, even in crises; consequently, beyond structural limitations, governments with high levels of civil liberty protections face an additional hurdle in managing the COVID-19 crisis. Evidence for this hypothesis is presented for 153 countries by combining civil liberty scores with newly available data on COVID-19 vaccinations.

Automated summary

The disparity in COVID-19 vaccine rollouts among different countries can be attributed to public resistance against government directives due to civil liberty protections. Countries with greater civil liberty protections are likely to have lower vaccination rates, as their public enjoys a greater sense of freedom in their private lives. In addition to structural limitations, governments with high levels of civil liberty protections face the additional challenge of public backlash even in crises, making it harder to manage the COVID-19 crisis.