Can health passport overcome political hurdles to COVID-19 vaccination?

In this paper we examine whether a health passport that increases the cost of not getting vaccinated, can change the individual trade-off in favor of vaccination. To address this question, we study the impact of the announcement of the French health passport on factors affecting vaccine hesitancy. First, using data from a survey conducted on the eve of the announcement date, we examine the determinants of vaccine hesitancy, and find that, prior to the introduction of the health passport, political preferences were significantly associated with vaccination rates. Then, using actual district-level data, we estimate the short-term impact of the health passport announcement on weekly COVID-19 vaccination rates and show that vaccine uptake significantly increased in the overall population, and particularly among the 20 to 39-year-old cohort. Focusing on the role of political factors, we find that vaccination rates increased significantly in districts with a high proportion of far right voters, thus highlighting that the health passport reversed the impact of some extreme political preferences on vaccine hesitancy.