Europe is experiencing an increasingly large circulation of influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Along with COVID-19, these viruses are expected to have a serious impact on our health services and populations this winter. This shows the importance of vulnerable groups being vaccinated against influenza and COVID-19, and of everyone protecting themselves and others against infections.

One in all the difficulties is people’s reluctance to be vaccinated. A study conducted by researchers on the UOC published in open access within the scientific journal PLOS ONE has assessed reluctance to receive the vaccine against COVID-19 in Spain throughout the spring-autumn campaign of 2021, amongst each the final population and healthcare professionals, and provides information on the right way to overcome it.

The aim of this study was to create an accurate and reliable portrait of a selected time limit, when the primary vaccination campaign against COVID-19 took place, to find out what could possibly be improved in the longer term.”

Salvador Macip i Maresma, doctor and professor within the Faculty of Health Sciences on the UOC, and the research director of the Mechanisms of Cancer and Ageing Laboratory on the University of Leicester

Macip participated on this study led by Francesc Saigi Rubió, a researcher on the eHealth Center and the director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre in eHealth on the UOC, Hans Eguia, a PhD student within the UOC’s Faculty of Health Sciences and professor within the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences and Marina Bosque, researcher within the UOC’s eHealth Center.

An environment of doubt and suspicion

A mass vaccination campaign for the final population was launched in Europe in spring 2021 to combat the pandemic brought on by COVID-19. The seriousness of the disease, the speed at which the varied vaccines became available and distrust of pharmaceutical laboratories created an environment of doubt and suspicion surrounding the brand new medications and their widespread application, which led to vaccines being rejected by hundreds of individuals.

Social media were full of hoaxes, false information and pretend news aimed toward creating an environment of distrust towards the vaccines and the brand new methods that had been used to fabricate them, reminiscent of messenger RNA technology. Some even deemed isolated cases, reminiscent of the blood clots supposedly brought on by inoculation with this kind of vaccine, to be a general rule.

Vaccination hesitancy

Through the study, the experts surveyed greater than 4,300 people through social media, including 500 healthcare professionals working in various branches of medication, within the spring of 2021. At the moment, 48.6% of the participants from the final population had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and 6.5% of the final population reported hesitancy at receiving the vaccination. Nonetheless, the older the respondents, the upper the share of people that had been vaccinated.

“The youngest and people with the bottom levels of education were essentially the most reluctant to be vaccinated. This was probably because they were the social group that perceived the least risk of experiencing problems related to COVID-19, so that they saw the vaccine as having fewer advantages,” identified the expert, who emphasized that higher levels of education and having medical knowledge “reduces hesitancy” towards these revolutionary medicines.

Meanwhile, 95% of the healthcare professionals participating had been vaccinated against COVID-19. “The healthcare professionals had more doubts about whether the vaccine was effective and secure. But they were the least reluctant to be vaccinated. This was possibly because they’d a greater understanding of the implications of not being vaccinated, and were more conversant in the final concept behind a vaccine,” noted Macip.

One other of the elements that the study considered was a vaccine’s acceptance or rejection depending on which laboratory had manufactured it. On this area, most participants showed no preference for any particular vaccine. Nonetheless, individuals who were vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine said they’d received their “preferred vaccine”.

In Europe, resulting from the campaigns that were carried out, there was a preference for vaccines based on mRNA (messenger RNA) relatively than the opposite kinds of vaccine that were available to the population at the moment. “Acceptance of vaccination against the coronavirus was not affected by the anti-vaccine movements or by the misinformation in some media,” said the experts concerning the environment that was apparent at the moment throughout the pandemic.

Information to enhance trust in vaccines

Although these data should not particularly negative, a major percentage of the population still rejects this kind of vaccine. This group may endanger their very own well-being and even create a public health problem. “Ignorance is what creates essentially the most hesitancy. But good information may even overcome the attraction that anti-vaxxers create in social media,” said the researcher.

In truth, based on the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy was a “common” problem even before the pandemic, and is taken into account one in all the ten principal threats to global health.

With the intention to overcome it, experts stress that accurate, confirmed, transparent and timely information is essentially the most effective method to boost public awareness and to reduce rejection and hesitancy towards this kind of medicine. The advantages are apparent, as when vaccination campaigns are carried out, hesitancy and rejection decline as their functionality and effectiveness are understood. “Information campaigns are essential. The more people learn about a recent drug, the less they fear it,” Macip concluded.

Source:

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Journal reference:

Saigí-Rubió, F., et al. (2022) Hesitation about coronavirus vaccines in healthcare professionals and general population in Spain. PLOS ONE. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277899.