[en] Objectives: Belgium enacted a COVID-19 pass, called Covid Safe Ticket (CST) during
the Autumn-Winter 2021-2022. This study aimed to understand the reasons
advanced by and expectations of those supporting this policy measure
Methods: This mixed method study was based on a voluntary online survey among
9,444 French-speaking residents in Belgium.
Results: Most respondents were not very supportive of COVID-19 passes, with only
617 respondents (7%) being favourable to the CST. Compared to other respondents,
the pro-CST sample comprised more males, older people, people scared of Covid-19,
people who trust anti-Covid vaccines, and highly educated people. A qualitative
analysis enabled to identify the reasons why respondents supported the CST. Two
lines of arguments were related to personal comfort (individual protection and means
of „recovering freedom‟) and two were related to collective protection (controlling the
pandemic and incentivising vaccination). Pro-CST respondents also advanced some
limits of the CST.
Conclusions: The expectations regarding COVID passes were high, diverse, and not
entirely rational. Some contradictions and frustration emerged from respondents‟
verbatims. We conclude that the CST might have exacerbated social divide in society.
The high expectations risk to lead to comparably high disappointment and
henceforth, potential distrust towards future public health interventions.
Research center :
RUCHE - Research Unit for a life-Course perspective on Health & Education - ULiège
Disciplines :
Social & behavioral sciences, psychology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Author, co-author :
Vermeulen, Nicolas ✱
Guyomarch, Morgane ✱
Jidovtseff, Boris ; ULiège - Université de Liège [BE]
Oleffe, Amandine
Labat, Aline
Paul, Elisabeth ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences sociales > Sociologie du développement
✱ These authors have contributed equally to this work.
Language :
French
Title :
Expectations and disappointments relative to COVID-19 passes: Results from a voluntary mixed-method study in French-speaking Belgium
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