Knowledge and Behaviours towards Immunisation Programmes: Vaccine Hesitancy during the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

Marco Dettori, Antonella Arghittu and Paolo Castiglia
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Marco Dettori: Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Antonella Arghittu: University Hospital of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Paolo Castiglia: Department of Medical, Surgical and Experimental Sciences, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-6

Abstract: Assessing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards vaccination is a key strategy when implementing national and international immunisation programmes aimed at improving compliance among the population and thereby increasing vaccination coverage. While vaccination’s role as a powerful life-saving weapon in the fight against infectious diseases has been further highlighted following the introduction of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine, there is still a discrepancy between the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of vaccines and the perception of the risk attributed to them. Known as “Vaccine Hesitancy” (VH), this phenomenon is the delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines, despite the availability of services. VH can be found in at least 15% of the worldwide population, and even professional groups tasked with promoting vaccination as a primary prevention measure, e.g., healthcare workers (HCWs), sometimes have doubts regarding vaccination. Since 2014, this Public Health problem has been increasing in 90% of countries worldwide, to the extent that in 2019 it was listed as one of the ten greatest threats to global health by the World Health Organization (WHO). VH has also affected COVID-19 vaccination, hampering the achievement of desired vaccination coverage. Monitoring this trend by studying people’s behaviour and attitudes could be a useful tool to aid Public Health, in orienting vaccination policies and designing new health education and continuous training interventions, aimed at both the general public and accountable cohorts, such as HCWs.

Keywords: vaccine hesitancy; emotional epidemiology; outrage management; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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