IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v112y2014icp1-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Attitudes to vaccination: A critical review

Author

Listed:
  • Yaqub, Ohid
  • Castle-Clarke, Sophie
  • Sevdalis, Nick
  • Chataway, Joanna

Abstract

This paper provides a consolidated overview of public and healthcare professionals' attitudes towards vaccination in Europe by bringing together for the first time evidence across various vaccines, countries and populations. The paper relies on an extensive review of empirical literature published in English after 2009, as well as an analysis of unpublished market research data from member companies of Vaccines Europe. Our synthesis suggests that hesitant attitudes to vaccination are prevalent and may be increasing since the influenza pandemic of 2009. We define hesitancy as an expression of concern or doubt about the value or safety of vaccination. This means that hesitant attitudes are not confined only to those who refuse vaccination or those who encourage others to refuse vaccination. For many people, vaccination attitudes are shaped not just by healthcare professionals but also by an array of other information sources, including online and social media sources. We find that healthcare professionals report increasing challenges to building a trustful relationship with patients, through which they might otherwise allay concerns and reassure hesitant patients. We also find a range of reasons for vaccination attitudes, only some of which can be characterised as being related to lack of awareness or misinformation. Reasons that relate to issues of mistrust are cited more commonly in the literature than reasons that relate to information deficit. The importance of trust in the institutions involved with vaccination is discussed in terms of implications for researchers and policy-makers; we suggest that rebuilding this trust is a multi-stakeholder problem requiring a co-ordinated strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaqub, Ohid & Castle-Clarke, Sophie & Sevdalis, Nick & Chataway, Joanna, 2014. "Attitudes to vaccination: A critical review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1-11.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:112:y:2014:i:c:p:1-11
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614002421
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Poltorak, Mike & Leach, Melissa & Fairhead, James & Cassell, Jackie, 2005. "'MMR talk' and vaccination choices: An ethnographic study in Brighton," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 709-719, August.
    2. Chanel, Olivier & Luchini, Stéphane & Massoni, Sébastien & Vergnaud, Jean-Christophe, 2011. "Impact of information on intentions to vaccinate in a potential epidemic: Swine-origin Influenza A (H1N1)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 142-148, January.
    3. Nichter, Mark, 1995. "Vaccinations in the third world: A consideration of community demand," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 617-632, September.
    4. Blume, Stuart, 2006. "Anti-vaccination movements and their interpretations," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 628-642, February.
    5. Ozawa, Sachiko & Sripad, Pooja, 2013. "How do you measure trust in the health system? A systematic review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 10-14.
    6. Yaqub, Ohid & Nightingale, Paul, 2012. "Vaccine innovation, translational research and the management of knowledge accumulation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2143-2150.
    7. Blume, Stuart & Zanders, Mariska, 2006. "Vaccine independence, local competences and globalisation: Lessons from the history of pertussis vaccines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 1825-1835, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ohid Yaqub, 2018. "Variation in the dynamics and performance of industrial innovation: what can we learn from vaccines and HIV vaccines?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 173-187.
    2. Yaqub, Ohid & Nightingale, Paul, 2012. "Vaccine innovation, translational research and the management of knowledge accumulation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2143-2150.
    3. Peretti-Watel, Patrick & Raude, Jocelyn & Sagaon-Teyssier, Luis & Constant, Aymery & Verger, Pierre & Beck, François, 2014. "Attitudes toward vaccination and the H1N1 vaccine: Poor people's unfounded fears or legitimate concerns of the elite?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 10-18.
    4. Jamison, Amelia M. & Quinn, Sandra Crouse & Freimuth, Vicki S., 2019. "“You don't trust a government vaccine”: Narratives of institutional trust and influenza vaccination among African American and white adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 87-94.
    5. Skea, Zoë C. & Entwistle, Vikki A. & Watt, Ian & Russell, Elizabeth, 2008. "'Avoiding harm to others' considerations in relation to parental measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination discussions - An analysis of an online chat forum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1382-1390, November.
    6. Kay Fullenkamp, Natalie, 2021. "Playing Russian roulette with their kids: Experts' construction of ignorance in the California and Ohio measles outbreaks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    7. Manca, Terra, 2018. "“One of the greatest medical success stories:” Physicians and nurses’ small stories about vaccine knowledge and anxieties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 182-189.
    8. Berezin, Mabel & Eads, Alicia, 2016. "Risk is for the rich? Childhood vaccination resistance and a Culture of Health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 233-245.
    9. Cao, Wanpeng & Du, Debin & Xia, Qifan, 2023. "Unbalanced global vaccine product trade pattern: A network perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    10. Casiday, Rachel Elizabeth, 2007. "Children's health and the social theory of risk: Insights from the British measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) controversy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(5), pages 1059-1070, September.
    11. Kaler, Amy, 2009. "Health interventions and the persistence of rumour: The circulation of sterility stories in African public health campaigns," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(9), pages 1711-1719, May.
    12. Vanderslott, Samantha, 2019. "Exploring the meaning of pro-vaccine activism across two countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 59-66.
    13. Desmond, Christopher*Greener, Robert, 2003. "The strategic use and potential demand for an HIV vaccine in Southern Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2977, The World Bank.
    14. Smirnova, Michelle & Owens, Jennifer Gatewood, 2017. "Medicalized addiction, self-medication, or nonmedical prescription drug use? How trust figures into incarcerated women's conceptualization of illicit prescription drug use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 106-115.
    15. Nelson, John P., 2023. "Differential “progressibility” in human know-how: A conceptual overview," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    16. Gordana Tkalec & Iva Rosanda Žigo & Žarka Dolinara, 2017. "Film Reception by Means of New Media or How the Film Escaped from the Cinema," European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 3, January -.
    17. Stasiulis, Elaine & Gibson, Barbara E. & Webster, Fiona & Boydell, Katherine M., 2020. "Resisting governance and the production of trust in early psychosis intervention," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    18. Kihlström, Laura & Siemes, Lea & Huhtakangas, Moona & Keskimäki, Ilmo & Tynkkynen, Liina-Kaisa, 2023. "Power and politics in a pandemic: Insights from Finnish health system leaders during COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    19. Manca, Terra, 2018. "Fear, rationality, and risky others: A qualitative analysis of physicians' and nurses' accounts of popular vaccine narratives," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 119-125.
    20. Rosemarie Sheehan & Gerard Fealy, 2020. "Trust in the nurse: Findings from a survey of hospitalised children," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(21-22), pages 4289-4299, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:112:y:2014:i:c:p:1-11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.