Cody Perry BS, Adin Mizer BS, Adam Wynn BS, Cassie Kruczek PhD
Introduction: Many devastating diseases have been largely controlled or eradicated, especially in industrialized nations, due to the availability of safe, effective, and affordable vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a horrific toll on human life and is devastating the global economy. To prevent the continued spread of COVID-19, efforts have begun to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. However, recent public polls have demonstrated concerns with the COVID-19 vaccine. To help understand these concerns, this review addresses the necessity of vaccines, vaccine safety and development, and vaccine hesitancy.
Methods: This review contains a compilation of data from several sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, studies published in PubMed and the Cochrane Library, CDC and WHO guidelines, and broader web searches to retrieve up-to-date information. Studies selected were related to vaccine safety, production, and efficacy or COVID-19.
Results/Conclusion: To improve public acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine, public health officials and healthcare professionals need to work with community leaders to create specialized strategies to overcome vaccine hesitancy. Such strategies could use both traditional and social media platforms in addition to physician-patient interactions. To maximize the number of individuals who receive the COVID-19 vaccine, these strategies should focus on dispelling potential myths and emphasize the benefits and safety of vaccination.
Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine safety/efficacy
Article citation: Perry C, Mizer A, Wynn A, Kruczek C. Countering COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2020;8(36):32–46
From: School of Medicine (CP, AM, AW, CK) and Department of Medical Education (CK), School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
Submitted: 7/30/2020
Accepted: 9/15/2020
Reviewer: Kenneth Nugent MD
Conflicts of interest: none
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.