Vaccine Hesitancy: Obstacles and Challenges

• Published in: Current pediatrics reports (Philadelphia, PA) Vol. 10; no. 4; pp. 241 - 248
• Main Authors: Galagali, Preeti M., Kinikar, Aarti Avinash, Kumar, Vikram Sakaleshpur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Pediatrics; Section Editors; Technology and Pediatrics (E Eisenstein and Y Evans; Technology and Pediatrics (E Eisenstein and Y Evans, Section Editors); Topical Collection on Technology and Pediatrics; Multicomponent interventions; Motivational interviewing; Health literacy; Vaccine hesitancy measurement; Vaccine uptake; Behavioral and social drivers
• ISSN: 2167-4841; 2167-4841
• DOI: 10.1007/s40124-022-00278-9

Purpose of Review In 2019, vaccine hesitancy (VH) was named as one of the top 10 threats to global health by the World Health Organization (WHO). We highlight the factors affecting VH, the role of VH in limiting vaccine uptake and inability to achieve collective immunity, and possible solutions. Recent Findings There are still uncertainties and concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, which promote VH and undermine public confidence in immunization. WHO has designed the behavioral and social drivers (BeSD) tools and survey instruments that can be used by countries to assess reasons for poor vaccine uptake in childhood for COVID-19 and plan national vaccination programs to counter these misconceptions. Summary Vaccines are one of the best preventative measures that public health care has to offer. Evidence from across the world both in high-income countries (HICs) and low/middle-income countries (LMICs) show that VH is a significant phenomenon which is translating into geographical clustering of epidemics. A reasonably high acceptance and coverage rates are necessary for an immunization program to be successful. A context-specific and multifactorial intervention with more high-quality research is needed globally.