Understanding and explaining the link between Anthroposophy and vaccine hesitancy: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: Anthroposophic communities have gained the attention of public health authorities due to low vaccination uptake. This systematic review aimed to summarize the evidence available on the relationship between anthroposophy and vaccine beliefs. The systematic review addressed aimed to collate evidence documenting outbreaks linked to anthroposophic communities, literature on vaccination coverage in anthroposophic communities and lastly describe literature that summarizes theories and factors influencing vaccine decision making in anthroposophic communities. Methods: This is a systematic review using following databases: Medline, Web of Science, Psycinfo and CINAHL. Article screening was conducted by two researchers. Data was summarized to address the research questions. For the third research question the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis with the assistance of Nvivo12.0. Results: There were 12 articles documenting 18 measles outbreaks linked to anthroposophic communities between the years 2000 and 2012. Seven articles describe lower vaccination uptake in anthroposophic communities than in other communities, although one article describes that vaccination uptake in low-income communities with a migrant background have lower coverage than the anthroposophic community they studied. We found eight articles examining factors and theories influencing vaccine decision making in anthroposophic communities. The qualitative analysis revealed four common themes. Firstly, there was a very broad spectrum of vaccine beliefs among the anthroposophic communities. Secondly, there was a consistent narrative about problems or concerns with vaccines, including toxicity, lack of trust in the system. Thirdly, there was a strong notion of the importance of making individual and well-informed choice as opposed to simply following the masses. Lastly, making vaccine choices was highly stigmatized by those outside of the anthroposophic community but also those within the community. Conclusion: Continued research and monitoring of vaccine beliefs in the anthroposophic community is important particularly in view of current COVID-19 vaccine decision debates. The importance of the Waldorf school and community context in influencing vaccine decision making warrants further investigation.

The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Switzerland and its impact on disease spread

“…; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.06.23288251 doi: medRxiv preprint they are underutilised in routine immunisation. This has lead to outbreaks of vaccinepreventable diseases that were previously eliminated in Europe, such as measles [1]. There is a concern that newly developed vaccines in response to pandemics will not be accepted by the population they seek to protect.…”

“…Because the Swiss national identity is very divided (Switzerland itself has notable linguistic divisions), it is perhaps not so surprising that Ticino (TI) had early uptake of vaccines (Figure 3.2) as those residents would all other things equal be assumed to have read more of the Italian language reporting on COVID-19; Italy being the early European epicentre in 2022 could have had an impact. However, Rudolf Steinerbased initiatives are head-quartered in Switzerland (particularly in Solothun (SO) which never achieves the maximum vaccination coverage in the study period) and are known to harbour pseudo-scientific and anti-vaccination sentiments [1] which could serve as a hindrance to improvements in vaccination and health. Waldorf school-driven outbreaks of infectious diseases are a known epidemiologic issue [28].…”