A historical overview of vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination concepts: What has the Covid-19 pandemic changed?

Abstract

Historically, contagious and epidemic diseases, have played an important role in the development of public health policy, causing the deaths of millions of people, particularly during the plague, cholera, and influenza epidemics in the Middle Ages. The eradication of smallpox virus by vaccination and the significant decrease of child mortality rates following the use of polio, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccines are two examples of the positive impacts of vaccines on public health. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), the main counseling unit about vaccines and immunization of the World Health Organization, endorses vaccination as one of the greatest achievements in 20th century public health. Despite the inarguable success of vaccination worldwide, anti-vaccination movements appeared historically almost simultaneously with the emergence of vaccines themselves. Most recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the first such pandemic of the 21st century, the concept of vaccine hesitancy emerged once again, not only among the general population but also in healthcare workers. The availability of the Internet and particularly social media kindled in some, a lack of trust, along with the huge volume of these echo chambers and dividing people ideologically as to Covid vaccination, despite the many lives obviously spared an the wide availability of this simple, cost-effective preventative measure. The aim of this article is to examine the brief history of the anti-vaccination movement and the scope of the concepts of vaccination and vaccine hesitancy; and to discuss the impacts of infodemics and the lack of trust in these two concepts during the Covid-19 pandemic. © 2023, Med. Law. All rights reserved.