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Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issues, entitled "People’s Perception on COVID-19 Vaccine and Its Accessibility" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/vaccines/special_issues/perception_COVID_19_vaccines).

When we examine history, we observe that the world has witnessed dozens of pandemics that have impacted the lives of human beings at the regional level. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected millions of people around the globe. For almost a year and half, people’s day-to-day lives have been disrupted, and lockdowns have been imposed by government officials to curb the infection rate. Scientists from all over the world have been looking for a way out of this situation. When the news of the COVID-19 vaccines finally came into the public domain, people showed differences of opinion on vaccine uptake. The COVID-19 vaccines were developed in a short period of time, whereas the vaccines for other infectious diseases usually take five to ten years. A lack of knowledge on the side effects of the vaccine and religious and cultural barriers, coupled with stigma attached to vaccine uptake, are preventing people from taking up the new COVID-19 vaccines. At the same time, the world has observed an unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines among richer and poorer countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic and need for mass vaccination in order to break the chain of infection globally have led to debates surrounding medical ethics principles from two different perspectives: the individual and the community. While the best interests of individuals and their autonomy are respected, the best interests of the population must also be protected.

A strategic vision for pandemic control across different countries must include all the potential gains from population-level immunity—not only health improvements and the prevention of mortality and morbidity but also strong psychosocial and economic protection from further catastrophic consequences. Vaccine hesitancy is a reality, but needs to be addressed and minimized, and there are several factors associated with it globally. However, to overcome this critical challenge during the management of the pandemic, it is the responsibility of not only public health practitioners but also the global science community, influential and popular individuals, and political leaders to raise public awareness through health-promotion campaigns.

Emerging scientific evidence from population-level vaccinations will accelerate the global promotion of vaccination.

In this Special Issue, we are calling for contributors from every corner of the world to disseminate research activities related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and vaccine shortage issues.

Dr. Russell Kabir
Dr. Ali Davod Parsa
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.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

22 pages, 521 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adolescents’ Opinions on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: Hints toward Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness in the Future

by Alessio Muscillo, Gabriele Lombardi, Elena Sestini, Francesca Garbin, Vittoradolfo Tambone, Laura Leondina Campanozzi and Paolo Pin

Vaccines 2023, 11(5), 967; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11050967 - 10 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2238

Abstract

To understand and assess vaccine reluctance, it is necessary to evaluate people’s perceptions and grasp potential reasons for generic apprehension. In our analysis, we focus on adolescents’ impressions towards anti-vaxxer behavior. The aim of the study is to figure out students’ opinions about vaccine reluctance, connecting possible explanations that motivate anti-vaxxer decisions with common specific personality traits. We further investigate people’s forecasts concerning the evolution of the pandemic. Between 2021 and 2022, we conducted a randomized survey experiment on a sample of high school individuals (

N = 395

) living in different Italian regions. At that time, the vaccination campaign had already been promoted for nearly one year. From the analysis, it emerges that vaccinated people (92%), especially males, tend to be more pessimistic and attribute a higher level of generic distrust in science to anti-vaxxers. The results show that family background (mother’s education) represents the most influential regressor: individuals coming from less educated families are less prone to attribute generic distrust and distrust of vaccines as principal reasons for vaccine reluctance. Similarly, those who rarely use social media develop a minor tendency to believe in a generic pessimism of anti-vaxxers. However, concerning the future of the pandemic, they are less likely to be optimistic toward vaccines. Overall, our findings shed light on adolescents’ perceptions regarding the factors that influence vaccine hesitancy and highlight the need for targeted communication strategies to improve vaccination rates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue People’s Perception on COVID-19 Vaccine and Its Accessibility: Version II)

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