Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy: A Nursing Perspective

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective health promotion interventions, preventing millions of deaths per year. Vaccine hesitancy (VH) received renewed attention in the United States when over 30 million Americans were undecided or had barriers to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose is to examine the literature regarding vaccine hesitancy, its history and legal aspects.

Design

An interprofessional team of a lawyer and two nurses reviewed the literature to synthesize the history of vaccine hesitancy and documented effective strategies to address disinformation, misinformation, and other barriers to vaccine uptake.

Methods

The authors conducted a thorough review of the literature regarding vaccine hesitancy, including legal aspects.

Findings

There is a scarcity of available literature regarding effective strategies, especially from the nursing perspective. Much of the literature on vaccine hesitancy dates back to the 1970’s, offering few strategies to address this issue. Nursing implications and strategies to address vaccine hesitancy from a nursing perspective are provided, including an innovative example of preparing nursing students to address vaccine hesitancy through participation in a high-fidelity simulation.

Conclusions

Vaccination uptake is impacted by misinformation and disinformation. Vaccine hesitancy is impacting the uptake of other routine immunizations putting Americans at risk. Regardless of vaccination policies, health care professionals must be prepared to communicate with people who have a wide range of VH. Strategies such as providing accurate information, addressing patient concerns, and reducing barriers to access decrease VH.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.