Influenza vaccination behavior and media reporting of adverse events

•We analyze the effects of media reporting on adverse events of flu vaccination.•We exploit changes in news and vaccinations within the same day across campaigns.•Each additional news item reduces the daily count of flu vaccinations by 2.5 %.•The effect is only temporary, as it fades away after 10 days from the news outbreak. We study the role of media reporting of alleged adverse effects of influenza vaccination on adults’ (aged 50 or more) decisions to vaccinate against the flu. We exploit the diffusion of news linking suspected deaths to the vaccine, during the 2014 vaccination campaign in Italy. Using daily variation in news items across the 2014 campaign and the previous year campaign, unaffected by media cases, we show that media reporting decreases flu vaccination by about 2.5 % (78 fewer vaccinations per day). The effect, however, is short-lived, as it fades away after approximately 10 days from the news outbreak.