A targeted approach to vaccine hesitancy

Abstract

Abstract This short communication makes the case for targeted vaccine research when attempting to counter hesitancy, especially amongst vulnerable or rarefied patient groups. Far from disincentivising vaccination, the freedom to research and publicise the limitations of these technologies for certain groups and personalising dosing, pacing, adjuvants, and time-sensitive alternatives in response is essential for optimising health outcomes while neutralising the vaccine research landscape itself. Vaccine evangelism only arouses suspicion when it is not tempered by rigorous research into differential vaccine benefit-risk in this way. That said, the long-standing politicisation of vaccination – a topic vulnerable to misinterpretation and media sensationalism – along with the commercial incentives associated with universal adoption makes more comparative and critical research difficult to fund and promote in practice. Likewise, a prescriptive approach to vaccination does little to address the issues of vaccine inequality that contribute to both hesitancy and conspiracy globally and will likely prove financially prohibitive in certain markets. These obstacles are not insurmountable, however, provided that comparative research is centrally subsidised, regulations ensure that vaccine development trials explore differentiated outcomes, especially amongst high-risk or rare groups, and findings are used to prioritise global vaccine allocation to those that stand to benefit most from them.