About this Research Topic

Background

Vaccine hesitancy (VH), the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines, can be a determinant of the success (or otherwise) of immunization campaigns. Indeed, in 2019, the Word Health Organization (WHO) listed VH as a major health threat for the Global Health. A negative perception of vaccination can compromise the goal of controlling the vaccine preventable diseases’ circulation in the general population and in some high-risk subgroups. Scientific literature reported high expression of VH in many subgroups of population, including chronic patients, parents of minors, and healthcare workers (HCWs).

The main reasons for low vaccination uptake were similar among these subgroups; indeed, vaccine safety, belief that the vaccine is not necessary or effective, low knowledge of vaccines, access issues, cost, conflicting advice are known determinants of hesitation.
Moreover, social media has become more widely accessible on various platforms, including smartphones and mobile devices, with the potential to accelerate the spread of information (true or false) and offer a means to rapidly select what is relevant to public discourse; the misinformation reported on.

This Research Topic will focus on the phenomenon of VH in the general population and its subgroups; and aims to cover the main determinants of vaccine attitude and the strategies to deal with VH in the some high-risk subgroups of the populations. The role of new communication media, policy makers and public health institution will be discussed too, in order to define the contribute of these figures to the success (or not) of vaccination campaigns.

We welcome submissions of Original Research, Review, Systematic Review, Clinical Trial, Commentaries and Brief Research Reports, on the subtopics of the following, but are not limited to:

• The estimation of VH in different population for specific vaccination; the impact of population knowledge, attitudes and behavior on VH; the consequences of VH on vaccination campaigns output; the main determinants of vaccination compliance.

• The role of HCWs in managing VH of their patients; indeed, HCWs are among the most trusted sources of vaccine information and have a direct influence on the immunization decisions of their patients and social contacts.

• The role of policymakers and Public Health Institution in improving new strategies to deal with this phenomenon.

• The role of mass and new media in spreading misinformation; the strategies to minimize this phenomenon.

Keywords: vaccine compliance, public health, healthcare workers, social media, subgroups of population

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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