- Vaccine hesitancy is an issue with concerns related to the risk and benefits of being vaccinated. 
- Hesitancy has many different levels to it depending on the time, place, vaccine, person, etc, so there is no one simple strategy to address hesitancy at all levels. 
- Vaccine information campaigns that focus on facts have a limited impact on hesitancy because risk perception and vaccine decisions are often made at the unconscious level and more influenced by emotions and beliefs than facts. Anti-vaccine ideas and beliefs can also spread very easily. 

Saint Louis University

- Risk Perception and Hesitancy 
- Emotions and Beliefs

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs that Affect Adult Vaccination Uptake 

MacDonald NE, Butler R, Dubé E. Addressing barriers to vaccine acceptance: an overview. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2018;14(1):218-224. doi:10.1080/21645515.2017.1394533

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5791591/

Addressing barriers to vaccine acceptance: an overview

Risk Perception and Vaccine Hesitancy in regards to Vaccination Uptake 

Emotions play a role in decision making and how we interpret numerical information. 
- If the fact conflicts with one’s beliefs, the fact is rejected. 
- If the fact is consistent with one’s beliefs, the fact is accepted. 
- If the fact is “reshaped,” the fact is accepted, changing one’s beliefs. 

Emotions and Beliefs in regards to Vaccination Uptake 

Health care workers and immunization program managers should recognize and address vaccination hesitancy at all levels while actively supporting immunization acceptors in order to build and support a community of immunization acceptors. 
- Accepting vaccines does not necessarily mean hesitancy does not exist, so setting the social environment to accept vaccination is important. 
- Specific complex strategies are more effective than single interventions addressed towards a broad population. 
- Respecting and empathizing with those with different perspectives on immunizations are important regardless of the environment of the conversation (online, one one one in a clinic, or at a social event). This is because people are unlikely to change their opinions because someone is arguing aggressively with them. 


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