Beliefs towards vaccination and trust in the scientific community in Italy

Abstract

Abstract Background In 2017 the Italian government introduced compulsory vaccination for children aged 0-16 for ten diseases, in response to an alarmingly decrease in coverage and measles outbreak. A hot social debate arose in the wake of this law, questioning the trust both in the scientific community regarding vaccines and in the safety of vaccines. No Italian study has prior studied these topics combined. We therefore investigated the socio-cultural profile of Italians regarding beliefs towards vaccination and trust in the scientific community. Methods Data were extracted from the Italian section of the 2017 European Social Survey (ESS), conducted by the Italian National Institute for Public Policy Analysis. Main outcomes were the opinion about harmfulness of vaccines and the trust in the scientific community. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to examine the socio-cultural profile of respondents on the topic. Results Among the 2,626 subjects interviewed, 19% believed that vaccines are harmful and 10% had no trust in the scientific community in regards to vaccines. Respondents who thought that vaccines are harmful, compared to respondents disagreeing, were characterized by less often having an education of 13 years or more (23% vs 29%), less often using a computer every day (44% vs 54%), less often participating in congresses (9% vs 17%), more often having a right wing political orientation (38% vs 26%). Out of the respondents who believed in the harmfulness of vaccines, 29% neither had trust in the scientific community. PCA suggested that this group (Anti-vax/science sceptic) was characterised by low participation in political and cultural life, being male, older of age and a right wing political orientation. Conclusions This study paints a picture of the opinions of Italians on vaccines. Respondents' profiles may be useful for policymakers to design targeted vaccination campaigns and to intervene more efficaciously in public debates. Key messages The share of Italian people who believe in harmfulness of vaccines is high, almost one in five. This is of great concern for the success of vaccination campaigns. Scientific community has a key role in the public debate on vaccines, considering the large consensus received on this issue.