IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/policy/v54y2021i3d10.1007_s11077-021-09427-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inaction, under-reaction action and incapacity: communication breakdown in Italy’s vaccination governance

Author

Listed:
  • Katie Attwell

    (University of Western Australia
    Perth Children’s Hospital)

  • Tauel Harper

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Marco Rizzi

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Jeannette Taylor

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Virginia Casigliani

    (University of Pisa)

  • Filippo Quattrone

    (University of Pisa)

  • PierLuigi Lopalco

    (University of Pisa)

Abstract

This article explores why governments do not respond to public compliance problems in a timely manner with appropriate instruments, and the consequences of their failure to do so. Utilising a case study of Italian vaccination policy, the article considers counterfactuals and the challenges of governing health policy in an age of disinformation. It counterposes two methods of governing vaccination compliance: discipline, which uses public institutions to inculcate the population with favourable attitudes and practices, and modulation, which uses access to public institutions as a form of control. The Italian government ineffectively employed discipline for a number of years. Epistemological and organisational constraints stymied its efforts to tackle a significant childhood vaccination compliance problem. With a loss of control over the information environment, vaccinations were not served well by exogenous crises, the sensationalism of the news cycle and online misinformation. Hampered by austerity, lack of capacity and epistemic shortcomings, the Italian government did not protect the public legitimacy of the vaccination programme. Instead of employing communications to reassure a hesitant population, they focused on systemic and delivery issues, until it was too late to do anything except make vaccinations mandatory (using modulation). The apparent short-term success of this measure in generating population compliance does not foreclose the need for ongoing governance of vaccine confidence through effective discipline. This is evident for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, with many Italians still indicating that they would not accept a vaccine despite the devastation that the disease has wrought throughout their country.

Suggested Citation

  • Katie Attwell & Tauel Harper & Marco Rizzi & Jeannette Taylor & Virginia Casigliani & Filippo Quattrone & PierLuigi Lopalco, 2021. "Inaction, under-reaction action and incapacity: communication breakdown in Italy’s vaccination governance," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 54(3), pages 457-475, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:54:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11077-021-09427-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-021-09427-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11077-021-09427-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11077-021-09427-1?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. Wolfinger, Raymond E., 1971. "Nondecisions and the Study of Local Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 1063-1080, December.
    2. Bachrach, Peter & Baratz, Morton S., 1963. "Decisions and Nondecisions: An Analytical Framework," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(3), pages 632-642, September.
    3. Søren C. Winter & Peter J. May, 2001. "Motivation for Compliance with Environmental Regulations," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(4), pages 675-698.
    4. Sofia A. Perez & Manos Matsaganis, 2018. "The Political Economy of Austerity in Southern Europe," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 192-207, March.
    5. Saad B. Omer & Cornelia Betsch & Julie Leask, 2019. "Mandate vaccination with care," Nature, Nature, vol. 571(7766), pages 469-472, July.
    6. Moshe Maor, 2014. "Policy persistence, risk estimation and policy underreaction," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 47(4), pages 425-443, December.
    7. Kelly Levin & Benjamin Cashore & Steven Bernstein & Graeme Auld, 2012. "Overcoming the tragedy of super wicked problems: constraining our future selves to ameliorate global climate change," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(2), pages 123-152, June.
    8. Allan McConnell & Paul ’t Hart, 2019. "Inaction and public policy: understanding why policymakers ‘do nothing’," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(4), pages 645-661, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Talia Goren & Dana R. Vashdi & Itai Beeri, 2022. "Count on trust: the indirect effect of trust in government on policy compliance with health behavior instructions," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(4), pages 593-630, December.
    2. Moshe Maor & Tereza Capelos, 2023. "Symposium: Affect and emotions in policy dynamics," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(3), pages 439-448, September.

    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. Prudence R. Brown & Alastair Stark, 2022. "Policy inaction meets policy learning: four moments of non-implementation," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 55(1), pages 47-63, March.
    2. Frimpong Boamah, Emmanuel, 2018. "Constitutional economics of Ghana’s decentralization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 256-267.
    3. Marta Silva & João Carlos Lopes, 2020. "The structural adjustment of the Portuguese economy in the context of the economic reform of the Eurozone," Working Papers REM 2020/0143, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    4. Zhang, Zibin & Yang, Wenxin & Ye, Jianliang, 2021. "Why sulfur dioxide emissions decline significantly from coal-fired power plants in China? Evidence from the desulfurated electricity pricing premium program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    5. Leibbrandt, Andreas & Lynham, John, 2018. "Does the allocation of property rights matter in the commons?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 201-217.
    6. Hamish van der Ven & Yixian Sun, 2021. "Varieties of Crises: Comparing the Politics of COVID-19 and Climate Change," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 21(1), pages 13-22, Winter.
    7. Jesse L. Reynolds & Edward A. Parson, 2020. "Nonstate governance of solar geoengineering research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 323-342, May.
    8. Jeroen van der Heijden & Jitske de Jong, 2009. "Towards a Better Understanding of Building Regulation," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 36(6), pages 1038-1052, December.
    9. Sandra Waddock, 2019. "Shaping the Shift: Shamanic Leadership, Memes, and Transformation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 931-939, April.
    10. Anna Soveri & Linda C Karlsson & Otto Mäki & Jan Antfolk & Otto Waris & Hasse Karlsson & Linnea Karlsson & Mikael Lindfelt & Stephan Lewandowsky, 2020. "Trait reactance and trust in doctors as predictors of vaccination behavior, vaccine attitudes, and use of complementary and alternative medicine in parents of young children," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Jeffry Frieden & Stefanie Walter, 2019. "Analyzing inter-state negotiations in the Eurozone crisis and beyond," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(1), pages 134-151, March.
    12. Abdullah Banikhalid & Michel Rahbeh, 2024. "The Role of the Law in Prompting Environmental Stewardship for Farms Located Near Phosphate Mines," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Felix Strebel & Thomas Widmer, 2012. "Visibility and facticity in policy diffusion: going beyond the prevailing binarity," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 45(4), pages 385-398, December.
    14. Yoon‐Hee Ha & John Byrne, 2019. "The rise and fall of green growth: Korea's energy sector experiment and its lessons for sustainable energy policy," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(4), July.
    15. Ana Luiza Fontenelle & Erik Nilsson & Ieda Geriberto Hidalgo & Cintia B. Uvo & Drielli Peyerl, 2022. "Temporal Understanding of the Water–Energy Nexus: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    16. Huiqi Yan & Jeroen van der Heijden & Benjamin van Rooij, 2017. "Symmetric and asymmetric motivations for compliance and violation: A crisp set qualitative comparative analysis of Chinese farmers," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 64-80, March.
    17. Frans Sengers & Bruno Turnheim & Frans Berkhout, 2021. "Beyond experiments: Embedding outcomes in climate governance," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(6), pages 1148-1171, September.
    18. Yingjie Hao & Congcong Fan & Yunguang Long & Jieyi Pan, 2019. "The role of returnee executives in improving green innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing enterprises: Implications for sustainable development strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 804-818, July.
    19. Kreitmair, Ursula & Bower-Bir, Jacob, 2021. "Too different to solve climate change? Experimental evidence on the effects of production and benefit heterogeneity on collective action," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    20. Andrew S. Mitchell & Mark Lemon & Wim Lambrechts, 2020. "Learning from the Anthropocene: Adaptive Epistemology and Complexity in Strategic Managerial Thinking," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, May.

    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:kap:policy:v:54:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11077-021-09427-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.