September 10, 2020

largest global vaccine confidence survey reveals hesitancy hotspots

The largest global study to date has mapped trends in vaccine confidence across 149 countries between 2015-2019, published in the Lancet.

Public trust in immunisation is an increasingly important global health issue, with WHO declaring vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019. Declining confidence can result in vaccine delays or refusals, which is contributing to a rising number of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks including measles, polio, and meningitis worldwide. In a time of hope for a COVID-19 vaccine, this survey of over 284,000 adults has unveiled views on whether vaccines are important, safe, and effective.

Speakers included:

Prof Heidi Larson, Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project and Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Dr Alex de Figueiredo, Research Fellow and Statistics Lead of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.