Hesitação/recusa vacinal: um assunto em pauta – Editorial

Although the advent of childhood vaccination is considered the scientific achievement of the twentieth century with the greatest impact on public health, the issue of vaccine hesitation/refusal continues. The World Health Organization, recognizing the increasing risk of this problem and the need for special attention, has created, within the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, a working group specially focused on the subject, the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. A recent report from this group concluded that research on the reasons and degree of vaccine hesitation/refusal is important and can help inform and refine the approaches to be implemented at both national and subnational levels. Within this context, Scientia Medica publishes in this issue a survey carried out in a region in the north of Portugal, which identified cases of vaccine refusal in all social classes and investigated their motives.