Vaccine Hesitancy: Clarifying a Theoretical Framework for an Ambiguous Notion

Conclusion In this paper, we have discussed some of the ambiguities and contradictions of the notion of vaccine hesitancy. We have argued that it is currently more a catchall category than a real concept. This lack of consistence is likely to hamper both research and interventions. Therefore, as a supplement to the previous work carried out by the SAGE working group, we propose grounding the notion of vaccine hesitancy in an explicit theoretical framework that takes some major structural features of contemporary societies into account. We consider VH to be a kind of decision-making process that depends on people’s level of commitment to healthism/risk culture and on their level of confidence toward health authorities and mainstream medicine. This framework abandons the anti/pro vaccination continuum. We do not claim here that the vaccine-hesitant do not have opinions about vaccination in general, nor that such opinions do not influence their behaviours toward a specific vaccine. Nevertheless, we believe that these general opinions are not a key determinant of their vaccination behaviours, especially in comparison with the two other dimensions discussed here. We also believe our approach opens new avenues for research on VH. For example, it would be useful to consider various kinds of VH that may be correlated to individuals’ socioeconomic status (SES), as the social differentiation of health behaviors may reflect the social differentiation of health-related cognition, inc...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Source Type: research