Vaccine Hesitancy in the Era of COVID-19

Dear Colleagues,

Vaccine hesitancy refers to the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines. This hesitancy can stem from various factors, including misinformation, mistrust in vaccine efficacy or safety, cultural or religious beliefs, complacency due to a lack of perceived risk, and access barriers. With regard to COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy has been a significant challenge in achieving widespread immunity and controlling the pandemic. Misinformation spread through social media and other channels has fueled skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines, leading to concerns about their safety and efficacy. Additionally, historical injustices and systemic disparities have contributed to mistrust among certain communities, exacerbating vaccine hesitancy.

Similarly, vaccine hesitancy has been observed in relation to other infectious diseases, such as measles, influenza, and polio. Despite the proven effectiveness of vaccines in preventing these diseases, concerns about side effects and misinformation have led some individuals and communities to delay or refuse vaccination. Addressing vaccine hesitancy requires a multifaceted approach, including accurate and transparent communication about vaccine safety and efficacy, community engagement and education, addressing underlying social determinants of health, and ensuring equitable access to vaccines. Building trust between healthcare providers, public health authorities, and communities is essential in overcoming vaccine hesitancy and achieving herd immunity against infectious diseases.

Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on research related to vaccine hesitancy and its other dimensions to explore this problem in more depth. We welcome submissions of all kinds of reviews, meta-analyses, and original articles.

Dr. Kavita Batra
Dr. Francesco Chirico
Dr. Amelia Rizzo
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe La Torre
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.

• vaccine hesitancy
• evidence synthesis
• COVID-19