According to the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy is one of the top 10 threats to global health. It is defined as “the delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccination services.” The reluctance or refusal to vaccinate may result from a combination of factors, such as the low perceived risk and severity of infection, low confidence in vaccines as well as related environmental and social contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new era of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, which may have affected hesitancy toward other routine childhood and adolescent vaccinations.
Understanding vaccine hesitancy of routine or COVID-19 vaccines during and post-pandemic is important for developing appropriating messages and strategies to increase vaccination uptake and confidence.
For this Article Collection, the goal is to solicit submission of any articles to showcase vaccine hesitancy during and post-COVID pandemic.
- Vaccine hesitancy/confidence during and post-COVID19
- Adherence to the recommended schedule and up-to-date status
- Comparing of vaccine hesitancy prior to, during, and post-pandemic
- Changes in vaccine hesitancy/confidence
- Vaccine hesitancy/confidence among different populations
- Disparities in vaccine hesitancy/confidence
- Strategies for increasing vaccine uptake/confidence in the post-pandemic era
Annals of Medicine accepts the following types of articles:
- Research Article (systematic/meta-analysis reviews and observational studies)
- Review Article
- Clinical Trials
- Protocols
- Case Series
- Commentary
Dr. Kimberly Nguyen is a Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University Milken School of Public Health, and Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Nguyen previously worked at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Immunization Services Division, where she led initiatives and studies aimed at understanding vaccine hesitancy. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has worked on multiple studies examining vaccine hesitancy toward COVID-19 and routine child and adolescent vaccines. Her focus is on identifying disparities in vaccination coverage, understanding reasons for non-vaccination, and developing strategies for increasing vaccine uptake and confidence.
Kimberly Nguyen | Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Dr. Lavanya Vasudevan is an Associate Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. She is an adjunct faculty at the Duke Global Health Institute. Dr. Vasudevan’s research aims to develop and implement interventions for promoting vaccination equity and decision-making globally, with a specific focus on populations experiencing health disparities. A key theme in her research is the development and evaluation of multi-level strategies that are linked to routine vaccination services for proactively and systematically reducing barriers to vaccination.
Lavanya Vasudevan | Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Dr. Robert A. Bednarczyk is an Associate Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. He is also a faculty member of the Emory Vaccine Center and the Cancer Prevention and Control Program of the Winship Cancer Institute. Dr. Bednarczyk’s research is focused on understanding the epidemiology of vaccine hesitance, acceptance, and uptake, and developing and evaluating practice-based interventions to improve vaccine delivery. A new focus of his research is identifying geographic hot-spots of suboptimal vaccine coverage using immunization information system records to aid in the delivery of focused interventions where they are most needed.
Robert Bednarczyk | Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Disclosure Statement: Dr. Nguyen, Dr. Vasudevan and Dr. Bednarczyk have no conflicts of interest to declare.
The deadline for submitting manuscripts is January 31st, 2024.
When submitting your article, please select the section, 'Infectious Diseases', and the Special Issue, 'Vaccine Confidence During and Post-Covid Pandemic' from the drop-down menu on the submission system.
Annals of Medicine is an online, open-access, international journal publishing across all areas of medicine and is part of our Elevate Series. This means that you will receive a concierge-level publishing experience, including dedicated support from our expert in-house Editorial team, with guaranteed response times of within 48 hours, an initial decision on whether your article will be peer-reviewed within 5 working days, and a first decision on your research within an average of 22 working days.
