The Psychology of Vaccine Acceptance, Hesitancy, and Denial

Recent data from the World Health Organisation has indicated a fourfold increase in cases of measles in 2017 compared to previous year (from 5273 to 21 315 cases) across the European region (www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press- releases/2018/europe-observes- a-4- fold- increase-in- measles-cases- in-2017- compared-to- previous-year). These cases subsequently lead to hundreds of hospitalisations, and 35 recorded deaths. While some of these cases were in those too young to be vaccinated, or those that had other health concerns that made vaccination inadvisable, the majority of the cases were in people who had actively made a choice to avoid immunisation.

The reasons why an individual may refuse a vaccine backed by extremely strong safety and efficacy evidence are wide ranging and complex. In this talk, Richard will introduce you to the concept of Vaccine Hesitancy and explain how, risk perception, uncertainty, social influence and above all trust plays a role in vaccine delay, selection and refusal.

Speaker: Richard Clarke is a health psychologist and 3rd year PhD candidate with The Vaccine Confidence Project (www.vaccineconfidence.org/) based at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The academic field of vaccination is very wide, Richard’s area of expertise focuses on the social science related to vaccine delivery. For all things vaccine science please visit The Vaccine Knowledge Project at vk.ovg.ox.ac.uk/

£5 on the door to cover costs with any extra raised going to charity