| Journal Name | Frontiers in Public health |
| Publication Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 9, 698111 |
| Authors | Joshi, A., Kaur, M., Kaur, R., Grover, A., Nash, D., El-Mohandes, A. |
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impose enormous burdens on morbidity and mortality while severely disrupting societies and economies worldwide. Governments prepare themselves to ensure large-scale, equitable access and distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Overcoming the pandemic will require sufficient health system capacity, and effective strategies to enhance trust in and acceptance of vaccines. Concern about vaccine hesitancy is growing worldwide (1). For decades, vaccines have been a successful measure to eliminate and prevent numerous infections. However, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation act as hurdles in achieving high coverage and community immunity against the infection (2, 3). In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization stated vaccine hesitancy as a “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite the availability of vaccination services” (4). Vaccine hesitancy can differ in form and intensity based on when and where it occurs and what vaccine is involved (5, 6). Concerns about vaccine hesitancy are growing globally, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it among the top ten health threats in 2019 (7).
Governments, public health officials, and advocacy groups must be equipped to address vaccine hesitancy. There is a need to build vaccine literacy to increase vaccine acceptance rates. Besides, misinformation spread through multiple sources could have a considerable impact on the acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine (8). Governments and societies must gauge current levels of willingness to receive potentially safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and identify correlates of vaccine hesitancy and/or acceptance. Intervention models to improve vaccine literacy and acceptance should directly take up community-specific concerns, misconceptions, and be sensitive to religious or cultural beliefs (9). Researchers have recognized effective interventions for building confidence and decreasing vaccine hesitancy in different contexts (10, 11). Trust in government is highly associated with vaccine acceptance and can contribute to public compliance with recommended actions (12). Addressing and overcoming vaccine hesitancy requires more than building trust. Clear and consistent effective communication by government officials is central in building public confidence in vaccine programs. This includes explaining how vaccines work, their development, along regulatory approval based on safety and efficacy. Powerful campaigns should also aim to explain the effectiveness of vaccines, the time needed for protection, and the significance of population-wide vaccine coverage to attain community immunity. Inculcating public confidence in regulatory agency reviews of vaccine safety and effectiveness will be imperative (13, 14). Despite tremendous efforts being made to achieve COVID-19 vaccine coverage, vaccine hesitancy could be a major barrier toward its acceptance by the general population. To identify the scope of the problem, the current scoping review aims to explore and understand the rates of acceptance and hesitancy related to COVID-19 vaccine among the population globally. This could help bridge the knowledge gaps and facilitate formation of effective strategies to overcome the high levels of hesitancy related to COVID-19 vaccine, increase its uptake, and mitigate the pandemic as well as help global stakeholders to conduct COVID-19 vaccination drives and promote vaccine uptake.
