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Published on: August 30, 2018
Economic and Behavioral Influencers of Vaccination and Antimicrobial Use
Caroline E Wagner1, Joseph A Prentice2, Chadi M Saad-Roy2,3
1Department of Bioengineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Insights
Vaccine hesitancy and antibiotic overuse are growing concerns, particularly in young children. Understanding individual incentives, risk perceptions, and social norms is key to addressing these public health challenges.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Social Science
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Background:
- Global vaccination coverage has improved, yet vaccine hesitancy and refusal are increasing worldwide.
- Simultaneously, antibiotic overuse in children is driving drug resistance, threatening infectious disease treatment.
- Vaccine hesitancy and antibiotic overuse coexist, with differing public perceptions of safety and efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the drivers behind vaccine hesitancy and antibiotic overuse.
- To explore the roles of individual incentives, risk perceptions, and social dynamics.
- To inform policy by understanding factors at the intersection of infectious disease and social science.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on vaccine hesitancy and antibiotic use.
- Analysis of individual incentives, risk perceptions, and social norms.
- Examination of societal and individual costs associated with vaccine underuse and antimicrobial overuse.
Main Results:
- Vaccine hesitancy is rising, with increased non-medical exemptions in some US states.
- Antibiotic misuse contributes to escalating rates of drug resistance.
- Divergent public perceptions of vaccine and antibiotic safety and effectiveness are evident.
Conclusions:
- Individual incentives, risk perceptions, and social norms significantly influence vaccine and antibiotic use.
- Addressing vaccine underuse and antimicrobial overuse requires understanding these socio-behavioral drivers.
- Informed policy-making can mitigate the public health impacts of these trends.
Abstract:
Despite vast improvements in global vaccination coverage during the last decade, there is a growing trend in vaccine hesitancy and/or refusal globally. This has implications for the acceptance and coverage of a potential vaccine against COVID-19. In the United States, the number of children exempt from vaccination for "philosophical belief-based" non-medical reasons increased in 12 of the 18 states that allowed this policy from 2009 to 2017 (1). Meanwhile, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, especially in young children, have led to increasing rates of drug resistance that threaten our ability to treat infectious diseases. Vaccine hesitancy and antibiotic overuse exist side-by-side in the same population of young children, and it is unclear why one modality (antibiotics) is universally seen as safe and effective, while the other (vaccines) is seen as potentially hazardous by some. In this review, we consider the drivers shaping the use of vaccines and antibiotics in the context of three factors: individual incentives, risk perceptions, and social norms and group dynamics. We illustrate how these factors contribute to the societal and individual costs of vaccine underuse and antimicrobial overuse. Ultimately, we seek to understand these factors that are at the nexus of infectious disease epidemiology and social science to inform policy-making.
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