The world is facing one of the most challenging public health crises in history, and winning the battle requires a significant number of citizens to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19. Vaccination has been one of the most successful public health measures, but it has also been perceived to be unsafe and unnecessary by a growing number of populations in various countries and regions. Extensive research has been conducted to explore the antecedents and potential causes of vaccine hesitancy, and scholars have realized that vaccine hesitancy not only concerns individuals’ own decision-making processes but should be considered in historical, political, and socio-cultural contexts. Vaccine hesitancy is also context-specific, and it could vary across vaccines. Urgent research attention is needed to focus on the causes of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possible interventions and strategies to address it.
Existing literature on vaccine hesitancy has identified various antecedents and causes to such phenomena, including individuals’ knowledge, awareness, risk perceptions, efficacious beliefs regarding vaccines, as well as contextual factors, such as cultural, religious, or political beliefs. Despite media and communication's ever-growing role in the public’s vaccine hesitancy, their potential roles have been largely understudied, especially the possible causal links between media, communication, and vaccine hesitancy. On the one hand, mass media serve as an important tool that has been widely employed in vaccination campaigns worldwide. Media campaigns can diffuse well-defined messages to large audiences repeatedly at a low cost, which could lead to individuals’ behavioral change directly or indirectly; on the other hand, negative vaccine-related information circulated on mass media, social media, or through interpersonal communication could have a tremendous impact on the public and contribute to vaccine hesitancy. By examining vaccine hesitancy from the perspective of media and communication in the context of COVID-19, we aim at cracking a key puzzle for understanding vaccine hesitancy to better address the issue and combat COVID-19.
We are looking for contributions that provide empirical evidence on how mass communication, interpersonal communication, and media affect and are affected by vaccine hesitancy in the context of COVID-19, as well as how to utilize communication efforts to reduce vaccine hesitancy. Specifically, an example of questions we would like researchers to answer include the following:
• How do mass communication and interpersonal communication affect vaccine hesitancy?
• To what extent does vaccine hesitancy affect individuals’ communication as well as media selection and consumption behaviors?
• How does individuals’ social media usage affect their vaccine hesitancy and vice versa?
• How do media/interpersonal communication messages reduce individuals’ vaccine hesitancy?
• How to segment and target vaccine-hesitant individuals based on their demographic characteristics and media consumption patterns?
The world is facing one of the most challenging public health crises in history, and winning the battle requires a significant number of citizens to vaccinate themselves against COVID-19. Vaccination has been one of the most successful public health measures, but it has also been perceived to be unsafe and unnecessary by a growing number of populations in various countries and regions. Extensive research has been conducted to explore the antecedents and potential causes of vaccine hesitancy, and scholars have realized that vaccine hesitancy not only concerns individuals’ own decision-making processes but should be considered in historical, political, and socio-cultural contexts. Vaccine hesitancy is also context-specific, and it could vary across vaccines. Urgent research attention is needed to focus on the causes of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the possible interventions and strategies to address it.
Existing literature on vaccine hesitancy has identified various antecedents and causes to such phenomena, including individuals’ knowledge, awareness, risk perceptions, efficacious beliefs regarding vaccines, as well as contextual factors, such as cultural, religious, or political beliefs. Despite media and communication's ever-growing role in the public’s vaccine hesitancy, their potential roles have been largely understudied, especially the possible causal links between media, communication, and vaccine hesitancy. On the one hand, mass media serve as an important tool that has been widely employed in vaccination campaigns worldwide. Media campaigns can diffuse well-defined messages to large audiences repeatedly at a low cost, which could lead to individuals’ behavioral change directly or indirectly; on the other hand, negative vaccine-related information circulated on mass media, social media, or through interpersonal communication could have a tremendous impact on the public and contribute to vaccine hesitancy. By examining vaccine hesitancy from the perspective of media and communication in the context of COVID-19, we aim at cracking a key puzzle for understanding vaccine hesitancy to better address the issue and combat COVID-19.
We are looking for contributions that provide empirical evidence on how mass communication, interpersonal communication, and media affect and are affected by vaccine hesitancy in the context of COVID-19, as well as how to utilize communication efforts to reduce vaccine hesitancy. Specifically, an example of questions we would like researchers to answer include the following:
• How do mass communication and interpersonal communication affect vaccine hesitancy?
• To what extent does vaccine hesitancy affect individuals’ communication as well as media selection and consumption behaviors?
• How does individuals’ social media usage affect their vaccine hesitancy and vice versa?
• How do media/interpersonal communication messages reduce individuals’ vaccine hesitancy?
• How to segment and target vaccine-hesitant individuals based on their demographic characteristics and media consumption patterns?
