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Review
. 2022 Jun 20:11:2021-12-3.
doi: 10.7573/dic.2021-12-3. eCollection 2022.

Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

George Kassianos  1   2 , Joan Puig-Barberà  3 , Hannah Dinse  4 , Martin Teufel  4 , Özlem Türeci  5 , Shanti Pather  5
Affiliations
Review

Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

George Kassianos et al. Drugs Context. .

Abstract

Immunization programmes have been globally recognized as one of the most successful medical interventions against infectious diseases. Despite the proven efficacy and safety profiles of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, there are still a substantial number of people who express vaccine hesitancy. Factors that influence vaccine decision-making are heterogenous, complex, and context specific and may be caused or amplified by uncontrolled online information or misinformation. With respect to COVID-19, the recent emergence of novel variants of concern that give rise to milder disease also drives vaccine hesitancy. Healthcare professionals remain one of the most trusted groups to advise and provide information to those ambivalent about COVID-19 vaccination and should be equipped with adequate resources and information as well as practical guidance to empower them to effectively discuss concerns. This article seeks to summarize the currently available information to address the most common concerns regarding COVID-19 vaccination.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; boosters; coronavirus; hesitancy; infectious disease; public health; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure and potential conflicts of interest: HD and MT have nothing to disclose. GK is chairman of the RAISE Pan-European Influenza Group (20 countries), a board member of European Scientific Working Group on Influenza (ESWI), National Immunisation Lead of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and President of the British Global & Travel Health Association; he participated in advisory boards or lectured at meetings organized by MSD, Sanofi Vaccines, Pfizer, Seqirus, AstraZeneca, GSK, Valneva, and Janssen and has lectured at meetings organized by the European Parliament, UK Health Security Agency, and ESWI. JPB has previously received honoraria and/or consulting fees from Seqirus and Sanofi Vaccines. SP and ÖT have received salary support from BioNTech SE. ÖT is a cofounder of BioNTech SE and TRON (Translational Oncology Mainz), holds issued patents with BioNTech SE and TRON, and holds BioNTech SE shares. All authors received medical writing support during drafting of this manuscript. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Potential Conflicts of Interests form for the authors is available for download at: https://www.drugsincontext.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/dic.2021-12-3-COI.pdf

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