Abstract
Vaccination provides many health and economic benefits to individuals and society, and public support for immunization programs is generally high. However, the benefits of vaccines are often not fully valued when public discussions on vaccine safety, quality or efficacy arise, and the spread of misinformation via the internet and other media has the potential to undermine immunization programs. Factors associated with improved public confidence in vaccines include evidence-based decision-making procedures and recommendations, controlled processes for licensing and monitoring vaccine safety and effectiveness and disease surveillance. Community engagement with appropriate communication approaches for each audience is a key factor in building trust in vaccines. Vaccine safety/quality issues should be handled rapidly and transparently by informing and involving those most affected and those concerned with public health in effective ways. Openness and transparency in the exchange of information between industry and other stakeholders is also important. To maximize the safety of vaccines, and thus sustain trust in vaccines, partnerships are needed between public health sector stakeholders. Vaccine confidence can be improved through collaborations that ensure high vaccine uptake rates and that inform the public and other stakeholders of the benefits of vaccines and how vaccine safety is constantly assessed, assured and communicated.
Highlights
Vaccines have made enormous contributions to public health allowing, for example, for the global eradication of small pox and elimination of poliomyelitis from most countries [1]
This review examines how confidence in vaccines is attained by building on trust and by having effective vaccine safety evaluation and monitoring systems that support immunization programs
Many countries have installed a national immunization technical advisory group, a body of national experts who advise on all technical and scientific topics related to vaccines and immunization [41] and who may elaborate recommendations on which vaccinations are appropriate in which schedule and for which population in order to help protect those at risk
Summary
Vaccines have made enormous contributions to public health allowing, for example, for the global eradication of small pox and elimination of poliomyelitis from most countries [1]. Rare reactions to vaccination, such as convulsions, thrombocytopenia, episodes of hypotonia and hyporeactivity and inconsolable persistent crying, are usually characterized by spontaneous remission with no sequelae, but can have a significant impact on health Anaphylaxis is another rare severe vaccine-related event that can be fatal unless treated in a timely manner [18]. Mistrust in the information provided by the pharmaceutical industry and a lack of trust in the scientific research community or in government [13,14,27] may lead to vaccine refusals This has fostered misconceptions about vaccination, such as the belief that diseases had already begun to disappear before vaccines were introduced, because of better hygiene and sanitation or that giving a child multiple vaccines for different diseases at the same time increases the risk of harmful side effects and can overload the immune system [28]. The partnerships and collaborations that are needed for sustained vaccine confidence in the 21st century are explored
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