Strategies intended to address vaccine hesitancy: Review of published reviews

Abstract

When faced with vaccine hesitancy, public health authorities are looking for effective strategies to address this issue. In this paper, the findings of 15 published literature reviews or meta-analysis that have examined the effectiveness of different interventions to reduce vaccine hesitancy and/or to enhance vaccine acceptance are presented and discussed. From the literature, there is no strong evidence to recommend any specific intervention to address vaccine hesitancy/refusal. The reviewed studies included interventions with diverse content and approaches that were implemented in different settings and targeted various populations. Few interventions were directly targeted to vaccine hesitant individuals. Given the paucity of information on effective strategies to address vaccine hesitancy, when interventions are implemented, planning a rigorous evaluation of their impact on vaccine hesitancy/vaccine acceptance will be essential.

Exploring pathways for building trust in vaccination and strengthening health system resilience

“…A recent review of the published literature suggests that dialogue-based interventions can be effective in addressing vaccine hesitancy [23]. Moreover, individually and culturally tailoring messages about vaccines is important, in order to respond to the varied types of views parents can hold [24, 25]. However, positive messages on their own will likely not counteract negative messages.…”

An injection of confidence

“…Yet, it seems clear that simply telling people that vaccines are safe is not enough. "Many public health interventions to promote vaccination have been based on a 'knowledge-deficit' approach, assuming that vaccine hesitant individuals would change their mind if given the proper information", writes Eve Dubé of the Quebec National Institute of Public Health in a review on strategies to address vaccine hesitancy [4]. [4,5].…”

The long and winding road to improving immunization rates: Sharing best practices in Canada

“…Unfortunately, ensuring timely acceptance of vaccines is not easy for provincial and territorial immunization programs or front line health care professionals. Simply providing information about the benefits of vaccines and the risks of vaccine preventable diseases is not enough (6,7). Overselling by emphasizing the facts about vaccine benefits and disease risks alone may exacerbate hesitancy and diminish on-time vaccine acceptance (8).…”