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Vaccines
Special Issues
Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance
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Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Vaccines and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 644

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Karl Hess

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Chapman University, Irvine, CA, USA
Interests: community pharmacy practice; travel medicine; vaccines; self-care therapeutics
Dr. Jeff Goad

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Chapman University, Irvine, CA, USA
Interests: travel medicine; vaccines or immunizations; public health; epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Laressa Bethishou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Chapman University, Irvine, CA, USA
Interests: care transitions; readmissions; med safety; med errors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue entitled Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance in the journal Vaccines, which is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open-access journal on public health. More information about the journal can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/vaccines.

Vaccination remains one of the most effective public health interventions, dramatically reducing the spread of infectious diseases, alleviating strain on healthcare systems worldwide, and reducing morbidity and mortality from preventable causes. However, the global impact of vaccination can be negated by vaccine hesitancy, influenced by cultural, social, economic, and psychological factors that reduce vaccination rates. Vaccine hesitancy therefore presents a unique threat to public health, as decreased acceptance rates can lead to the resurgence of preventable diseases, undermine efforts to achieve herd immunity, and increase morbidity and mortality. This special edition will focus on the critical topics of vaccine hesitancy and vaccination acceptance rates, highlighting research and other works that address the causes, trends, and potential solutions to these challenges.

We invite original articles and other reports that explore the topics of vaccine hesitancy and vaccination acceptance rates. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, (i) factors and other determinants, in patients or healthcare providers, that influence vaccine hesitancy and acceptance rates across populations, (ii) addressing and/or overcoming vaccine hesitancy and other barriers to vaccination, (iii) development, implementation, and/or analysis of health education, communication, or other best practices for reducing vaccine hesitancy or improving vaccination rates in different populations, and (iv) policy measures and public health interventions. In this Special Issue, communications, reports, commentaries, perspectives, reviews, and original research articles are welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Karl Hess
Dr. Jeff Goad
Dr. Laressa Bethishou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • vaccine hesitancy
  • vaccine acceptance
  • barriers to vaccination
  • vaccination strategies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 492 KiB  
Article
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Influenza and Pertussis Immunization During Pregnancy in Greece 
by Panagiota Georgia Maltezou, Eleni Kourkouni, Dimitra Kousi, Christos Hadjichristodoulou, Aikaterini Dadouli, Despoina Briana and Vassiliki Papaevangelou
Vaccines 2025, 13(4), 347; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines13040347 - 25 Mar 2025
Viewed by 290
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Vaccination against influenza and pertussis in pregnant women protects the mother and child through the transfer of protective antibodies across the placenta. However, pregnant women’s vaccine hesitancy is a major barrier to achieve satisfactory vaccination coverage in many developed countries. Methods: Greek [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Vaccination against influenza and pertussis in pregnant women protects the mother and child through the transfer of protective antibodies across the placenta. However, pregnant women’s vaccine hesitancy is a major barrier to achieve satisfactory vaccination coverage in many developed countries. Methods: Greek pregnant women’s vaccination knowledge, attitudes, and practices were recorded. Structured questionnaires were administered to mothers of infants under the age of 12 months through their pediatricians. Sampling across the country’s districts was applied to achieve geographic representativeness. Results: Questionnaires from 474 mothers were collected. Their mean age was 34 (±5) years. Vaccination uptake was 16.8% and 45.7%, for pertussis and influenza, respectively. During their recent pregnancy, 68.9% and 27.1% of the responders had been informed by their gynecologists regarding influenza and pertussis maternal immunization, respectively, indicating that gynecologists miss out on informing a significant rate of pregnant women. According to multiple logistic regression, women who gave birth during spring (OR: 2.29 vs. winter delivery, p = 0.042) and those with an MSc or PhD (OR: 2.93 vs. school graduates, p = 0.015) were more likely to receive influenza vaccination. Factors favoring influenza vaccination included doctor’s recommendation (OR: 18.86, p < 0.001), being not/somewhat afraid of potential vaccine side effects during pregnancy (OR: 2.09, p = 0.012), considering the flu as relatively/very dangerous during pregnancy (OR: 8.05, p < 0.001), and considering the flu vaccine as relatively/completely safe (OR: 4.37, p < 0.001). Doctor’s recommendation (OR: 29.55, p < 0.001) and considering pertussis a relatively/very serious risk to the mother’s health during pregnancy (OR: 6.00, p = 0.002) were factors associated with pertussis vaccination during pregnancy. Conclusions: The education of both expectant mothers and obstetricians is urgently needed in order to increase immunization coverage during pregnancy. The low influenza vaccination coverage among women delivering during winter and low pertussis immunization rates, in combination with low recommendation rates for both vaccines, strongly indicate that Greek obstetricians focus on maternal health alone. Their perspectives play an instrumental role in vaccine acceptance during pregnancy, shaping the immunization inclusion maps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vaccine Hesitancy and Acceptance)
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