Is The Solution To Vaccine Hesitancy Right In Front Of Us?

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) named vaccine hesitancy one of the top 10 threats to global health, reporting that increasing global vaccination rates could save more than 1.5 million lives every year.¹ There is no question that vaccine hesitancy is dangerous. But how can we combat it? To answer this question, we must first understand why people are so reluctant to get vaccines.

The Complexities Of Vaccine Hesitancy

WHO defines vaccine hesitancy as: “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines.”¹ However, it’s more complex than simple obstinance. Vaccine hesitancy stems from a combination of issues from access and underdeveloped support systems to, perhaps most importantly, a lack of information and trust. Vaccine technology is very different from what it used to be even 10 to 15 years ago. How many adults in the United States are walking around with scars from the old smallpox vaccine? However, these changes in vaccine development happened behind the scenes, in labs and on the pages of scientific journals. Therefore, the average person hasn’t been taught how to understand the new mechanisms of action in modern vaccination technology. And, as the technology becomes more and more complex, it gets harder and harder for the average person to understand even if they were exposed to the information.