Public Support for Zika Control Policies

Background: Lack of public support for infectious disease policies could lead to non-compliance with such policies, increase government mistrust, and undermine other government efforts. There is very little data regarding sources of influence on public support for infectious disease policies during an epidemic to inform the decision making of policy makers. Objective: Conduct an exploratory assessment of the temporal and demographic characteristics associated with public support for potential Zika prevention policies in the United States during the 2015-2016 Zika epidemic. Methods: Three cross-sectional, demographically-diverse samples (Ns=518; 605; 833) composed of U.S. adults aged≥18 were recruited through an online research company. Data collection time points were during peak U.S. media coverage of the Zika epidemic in Brazil but prior to local transmission in the U.S. (March 2016); after the first cases of local Zika transmission in the U.S. (August 2016); and after Zika risk in the U.S. had returned to baseline (March 2017). Primary outcome measures were support for policies focused on Zika prevention and control via restricting movement (quarantines; travel bans), vaccination, or vector control (DDT; genetically modified mosquitoes). Results: Support for every policy increased after local Zika transmission and remained elevated for policies focused on restricting movement but decreased for both vaccination policies and one vector control policy. Religiosity was the only characteristic consistently associated with policy support; other characteristics were associated with support for specific policy types. Conclusions: Public support for infectious disease prevention policies may substantially decrease after an epidemic has ended, which could undermine efforts to prevent future outbreaks. Researchers and policy makers should consider how ideologies, particularly religious ideology, could be leveraged to increase public support for infectious disease policy.