Internal and external factors affecting vaccination coverage: Modeling the interactions between vaccine hesitancy,...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Mathematical Modeling

Background:

• Individual health behaviors and perceptions are shaped by societal and cultural contexts.
• Increasing vaccine hesitancy correlates with decreased vaccination coverage and more vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks, especially in developed nations.
• Understanding evolving local vaccination cultures is crucial for public health strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how external factors like vaccine mandates and inaccessibility influence population-level vaccine hesitancy and vaccination behavior.
• To explore the dynamics of cultural evolution in response to vaccine policies.
• To analyze the interplay between individual beliefs, cultural context, and health decisions.

Main Methods:

• Development and application of a mathematical model simulating cultural evolution.
• Analysis of vaccine mandates, vaccine inaccessibility, and cultural selection trajectories.
• Modeling population dynamics of vaccine hesitancy and vaccination coverage.

Main Results:

• Vaccine mandates can result in high vaccine hesitancy coexisting with high vaccination coverage.
• Sustained high vaccine confidence is possible even with limited vaccine accessibility.
• Cultural evolution models reveal complex interactions between policy and public behavior.

Conclusions:

• External factors significantly shape population vaccination decisions and health culture.
• Policy interventions like mandates can have counterintuitive effects on vaccine hesitancy and coverage.
• Mathematical modeling provides valuable insights into public health dynamics and cultural shifts.