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The COVID-19 pandemic considerably impacted the lives of European citizens. This study aims to provide a nuanced picture of well-being patterns during the pandemic across Europe with a special focus on relevant socio-economic sub-groups. This observational study uses data from a repeated, cross-sectional, representative population survey with nine waves of data from seven European countries from April 2020 to January 2022. The analysis sample contains a total of 25,062 individuals providing 64,303 observations. Well-being is measured using the ICECAP-A, a multi-dimensional instrument for approximating capability well-being. Average levels of ICECAP-A index values and sub-dimension scores were calculated across waves, countries, and relevant sub-groups. In a fixed effects regression framework, associations of capability well-being with COVID-19 incidence, mortality, and the stringency of the imposed lockdown measures were estimated. Denmark, the Netherlands, and France experienced a U-shaped pattern in well-being (lowest point in winter 2020/21), while well-being in the UK, Germany, Portugal, and Italy followed an M-shape, with increases after April 2020, a drop in winter 2020, a recovery in the summer of 2021, and a decline in winter 2021. However, observed average well-being reductions were generally small. The largest declines were found in the well-being dimensions attachment and enjoyment and among individuals with a younger age, a financially unstable situation, and lower health. COVID-19 mortality was consistently negatively associated with capability well-being and its sub-dimensions, while stringency and incidence rate were generally not significantly associated with well-being. Further investigation is needed to understand underlying mechanisms of presented patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Given the initial shortage of vaccines to protect against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries set up priority lists, implying that large parts of the population had to wait. We therefore elicited the willingness to pay (WTP) for access to two hypothetical COVID-19 vaccines. Methods: Respondents were asked how much they would be willing to pay to get an immediate COVID-19 vaccination rather than waiting for one through the public system. We report data collected in January/February 2021 from the European COVID Survey (ECOS) comprising representative samples of the population in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the UK (N = 7068). Results: In total, 73% (68.5%) of respondents were willing to pay for immediate access to a 100% (60%) effective vaccine, ranging from 66.4% (59.4%) in the Netherlands to 83.3% (81.1%) in Portugal. We found a mean WTP of 54.36 euros (median 37 euros) for immediate access to the 100% effective COVID-19 vaccine and 43.83 euros (median 31 euros) for the 60% effective vaccine. The vaccines' effectiveness, respondents' age, country of residence, income, health state and well-being were significant determinants of WTP. Willingness to be vaccinated (WTV) was also strongly associated with WTP, with lower WTV being associated with lower WTP. A higher perceived risk of infection, higher health risk, more trust in the safety of vaccines, and higher expected waiting time for the free vaccination were all associated with a higher WTP. Conclusion: We find that most respondents would have been willing to pay for faster access to COVID vaccines (jumping the queue), suggesting welfare gains from quicker access to these vaccines. This is an important result in light of potential future outbreaks and vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in seven European countries and its association with selected sociodemographic as well as COVID-19-related variables. Methods: We used longitudinal data from nine quarterly waves collected between April 2020 and January 2022 (sample size per wave ranging from N = 7025 to 7300) of the European COvid Survey (ECOS), a representative survey of adults in Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Portugal and Italy. HRQoL was measured using the EQ-5D-5L. The association of self-reported COVID-19 infection, perceived health risk from COVID-19, selected sociodemographic variables and the COVID-19 stringency index with HRQoL was analyzed by logistic and linear fixed effects regressions. Results: On average across all nine waves, the proportion of respondents reporting any problems in at least one of the EQ-5D dimensions ranged between 63.8% (Netherlands) and 71.0% (Denmark). Anxiety/depression was the most frequently affected EQ-5D dimension in four countries (Portugal: 52.0%; United Kingdom: 50.2%; Italy: 49.2%; France: 49.0%), whereas pain/discomfort ranked first in three countries (Denmark: 58.3%; Germany: 55.8%; Netherlands: 49.0%). On average across all nine waves, the EQ-VAS score ranged from 70.1 in the United Kingdom to 78.4 in Portugal. Moreover, the EQ-5D-5L index ranged from.82 in Denmark to.94 in France. The occurrence of COVID-19 infection, changes in the perceived risk to one's own health from COVID-19, the occurrence of income difficulties and an increase in the COVID-19 stringency index were associated with increased likelihood of problems in EQ-5D dimensions, reduced EQ-VAS score and reduced EQ-5D-5L index. Conclusions: Across seven European countries, we found large proportions of respondents reporting problems in HRQoL dimensions throughout the pandemic, especially for anxiety/depression. Various sociodemographic and COVID-19-related variables were associated with HRQoL in longitudinal analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Braving the waves: exploring capability well-being patterns in seven European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic" published in the European Journal of Health Economics. The correction addresses an error in the author's name, which was incorrectly written as Neuman-Böhme instead of Neumann-Böhme. The original article has been updated to reflect the correct name. The publisher, Springer Nature, maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Sebastian Himmler, Job van Exel, Werner Brouwer, Sebastian Neumann-Böhme, Iryna Sabat, Jonas Schreyögg, Tom Stargardt, Pedro Pita Barros, and Aleksandra Torbica. [Extracted from the article]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including vaccination rates; COVID-19 outbreaks; and herd immunity.