ViVa 39 feature: Vaccine hesitancy

Vaccine hesitancy in the information age: From indecision to effective public-health action Vaccine hesitancy is often presented as a misinformation problem. That is true—but incomplete. Decisions about vaccination are shaped not only by claims encountered online, but also by uncertainty, perceived risks and benefits, social context, prior experiences, and trust in health professionals and public institutions.1,2 This distinction matters. A public-health response that treats every hesitant person as uninformed, irrational, or committed to refusing vaccination will fail to address the diversity of real-world concerns. The challenge is to define vaccine hesitancy precisely, understand how public-health information and misinformation influence decisions, and evaluate interventions according to whether they improve meaningful outcomes—not merely whether they produce more favorable survey responses. The vaccine-hesitant moment Vaccine hesitancy is not a new phenomenon. Questions about vaccination have long accompanied routine childhood immunization, HPV vaccination, and other vaccine programs. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, brought these questions into an unusually intense and...