Vaccine hesitancy - Issues and possible solutions

Abstract

Unvaccinated individuals pose a public health threat to communities. Research has identified many factors associated with parental vaccine refusal and hesitancy toward childhood and adolescent immunizations. However, data on the effectiveness of interventions to address parental refusal are limited. There is limited evidence to guide implementation of effective strategies to deal with the emerging threat of parental vaccine refusal. There is a need for appropriately designed, executed and evaluated intervention studies to address this gap in knowledge. Based on the available evidences in literature and previous works on vaccine hesitancy, there are mechanisms to address this menace. The vaccine hesitancy is a complex phenomenon and there are various areas where interventions may be done to adequately address it. This paper tries to find an answer to the ever growing vaccine hesitancy by critically reviewing the existing literature. To combat vaccine hesitancy, several strategies may be applied such as non financial incentives, presumptive delivery strategy, personalized messages and focused role of public health system and pediatricians. [J Med Allied Sci 2018; 8(2.000): 55-58]

Keywords

• Communication
• Immunization
• Vaccine hesitancy
• Vaccines