UPSC Articles
SOCIETY/ GOVERNANCE
Topic:
- GS- 1: Society
- GS-2: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
Vaccine Hesitancy
- Vaccine hesitancy is defined as a reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccine services.
What factors has led to Vaccine Hesitancy?
The debates around hesitancy for COVID-19 vaccines include
- concerns over safety, efficacy, and side effects due to the record-breaking timelines of the vaccines
- competition among several companies, misinformation
- Religious taboos
- A storm of misinformation around COVID-19 vaccines
- Susceptible of people to misinformation due to existing biases, information overload and limited attention spans.
Way Ahead
- The target audience must be the swing population i.e., people who are skeptical but can be persuaded through scientific facts and proper communication.
- Use the celebrity effect — the ability of prominent personalities to influence others to take vaccines.
- Celebrities can serve as agents of positive social change, erasing scepticism associated with vaccine adoption and prompting information-seeking and preventative behaviours
- Fact-check any news related to COVID-19 vaccines.
- The infodemic around vaccines can be tackled only by actively debunking myths, misinformation and fake news on COVID-19 vaccines.
Connecting the dots:
- Sociological analysis of rumours: Click here
