How society should respond to the risk of vaccine rejection

Ropeik, David

doi:10.4161/hv.25250

Cited by 48 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…In particular, to improve vaccination, healthcare providers should take advantage of every healthcare visit as an opportunity to evaluate vaccination status and administer vaccines when needed [2]. Declining vaccination rates should facilitate the spread of illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases and should increase costs for society, both in direct health care costs and indirectly in lost productivity [3]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine risk assessment in children with a referred reaction to a previous vaccine dose: 2009–2011 retrospective report at the Bambino Gesu’ children hospital, Rome, Italy

et al. 2014

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BackgroundDuring the last century, mass vaccination programs have achieved considerable success across the world in immunizing against several serious infectious diseases. However, vaccinations are threatened by their own success after results have been obtained: the more the incidence of potentially devastating diseases decreases, thanks to the success of vaccination programs, the more public attention shifts towards real or alleged “side effects” of vaccines.MethodsWe analyze the experience of 153 children with “reaction to a previous vaccine dose” continuing the vaccination protocol in the safe environment of the Center for risk vaccination at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS in Rome, from 2009 to 2011.ResultsTo assess the suitability for vaccination, a specialized pre-vaccination advice and a skin prick test (SPT) was undergone, according to Wood’s guideline; 151 children were SPT negative and full vaccine was administered. Of the 153 children examined just 13 had symptoms suggestive of IgE-mediated reaction-type reactions with angioedema manifestations. Among them, 2 had positive STP, which required alternative measures of administration of the vaccine. No cases of post vaccination reaction was reported and no vaccination program was stopped due to a severe reaction.ConclusionsInadequate levels of immunization against infectious diseases remain a significant problem for public health. However, the reasons for incomplete vaccination and non-adoption of vaccination services are manifold. To maintain public confidence in vaccines, advanced immunization programs must include activities for monitoring the safety of the vaccine at the individual level and pursuing specialized counseling pre-and post-vaccination for those at risk. Our results underlined a gap between true and referred adverse reactions and are consistent with vaccine safety. Anyway, a continuous assessment of the risks and benefits of vaccination is required and the results must be disclosed in order to strengthen confidence in the existing and in the new immunization programs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine risk assessment in children with a referred reaction to a previous vaccine dose: 2009–2011 retrospective report at the Bambino Gesu’ children hospital, Rome, Italy

et al. 2014

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“…In recent years, several public health authorities of the industrialized countries noted an increased numbers of parents choosing to have their children not vaccinated [1]. Trying to explain why this is occurring, public health experts refer to the activities of an antivaccination 'movements'.…”

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confidence: 99%

Adverse events following immunization: is this time for the use of WHO causality assessment?

Tafuri

Gallone

Calabrese

et al. 2015

Expert Review of Vaccines

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In recent years, public health authorities in industrialized countries have noted an increase in the numbers of parents choosing not to have their children vaccinated and in the activities of 'antivaccination' movements. Doubts about vaccine safety and lack of surveillance of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) are the most frequent themes proposed by antivaccination movements. This editorial aims to critically analyze the use of AEFI assessment procedures among national health authorities and public health researchers. In fact, the WHO recommended and published a systematic and standardized causality assessment process for serious AEFI, providing a method for individual causality assessment to be used by staff of national immunization programs, regulatory authorities and pharmacovigilance or surveillance departments. The last update was published in March 2013 but to date, an Internet search reveals no information or reports on AEFI surveillance that uses the WHO AEFI causality assessment.

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“…In his insightful review, 1 Ropeik identifies several salient emotional factors related to the risk perceptions that shape parental vaccine hesitancy and decision-making. Given that many of these emotional factors make conventional approaches to health education ineffective, Ropeik advocates policy responses to limit the costs and harms associated with vaccine refusal.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%