New Insights into Vaccination and Public Health: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the second edition of the Special Issue entitled ‘New Insights into Vaccination and Public Health’, hosted by the journal Vaccines, which is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on public health.

Disease prevention and control are the cornerstones on which public health is based and, in this context, vaccinations stand out as an indispensable tool, universally recognised for their proven efficacy, favourable cost-effectiveness, and high safety profile. With their capacity to prevent and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases, vaccines are one of the most powerful and reliable public health strategies available to protect the population and reduce the overall burden of preventable diseases. Moreover, the World Health Organisation lists them as one of the most effective weapons in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the indispensable role of vaccines in global health, transforming vaccination from a preventive measure to a fundamental tool for pandemic control and preparedness. In this context, vaccines have not only proven their effectiveness in saving lives, but also in saving health systems and economies from collapse.

The advent of new vaccine platforms, such as mRNA-based technologies, marks a new era in vaccinology, enabling rapid responses to emerging infectious diseases. However, as we move forward, the post-pandemic landscape reveals challenges that require immediate attention. Vaccination hesitancy persists, fuelled by misinformation and entrenched distrust, hindering efforts to achieve optimal population coverage. Perceptions of risk versus benefit remain skewed in many communities, often resulting in inadequate adherence to vaccination programmes. This is also compounded by the phenomenon of vaccine fatigue, resulting from the mass vaccination carried out to contain the pandemic.

Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach, with health communication playing a central role. This Special Issue, in its second edition, aims to explore the critical importance of vaccination in the current global context, focusing on i) the development and implementation of innovative strategies to improve vaccine uptake, particularly among underserved and at-risk populations (ii) target-specific approaches for newly available vaccines, such as those for RSV, pneumococcal, influenza and COVID-19, and/or herpes zoster, emphasising their role in protecting vulnerable groups such as the elderly, immunocompromised individuals, and healthcare workers, as well as achieving and maintaining childhood vaccination coverage and developing research for potential new emerging pathogens; iii) the drafting and evaluation of health communication and education campaigns to counter misinformation, promote trust and improve understanding of vaccine science among both the general public and health professionals.

The Special Issue, therefore, aims to gather further evidence for the implementation of appropriate vaccination strategies that are decisive for the well-being of the individual and the community. Articles, systematic reviews or meta-analyses, short communications and brief reports, letters, or other types of articles addressing the multidisciplinarity of these themes and their impact on public health, with reference to different population cohorts (infants, adolescents, adults, elderly, and at-risk populations) will be welcome in the second edition of this Special Issue. We look forward to your valuable contributions to this timely and impactful Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Paolo Castiglia
Dr. Antonella Arghittu
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.

• innovative vaccines
• vaccine hesitancy
• vaccination strategies
• health communication
• vaccine-preventable diseases

• New Insight in Vaccination and Public Health in Vaccines (29 articles)