Vaccine Hesitancy

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INTRODUCTION
Vaccinations are a ground-breaking discovery that have greatly helped mankind; they have helped prevent many illness, led to longer and healthier lives in humans, and done wonders in completely eradicating diseases, such as small pox. Immunizations have significantly helped humankind, but there are some who appear to disagree with this statement. Many individuals do not see the benefit in vaccines, and a term used to describe this unacceptance of vaccines is coined as “vaccine hesitancy”. Vaccine hesitancy, specifically, refers to the delay in accepting, or the complete refusal of vaccines. Many individuals tend to delay or feel hesitant about vaccinations due to multiple beliefs; some of these ideas include vaccines being linked …show more content…

For instance, studies have been performed that looked at healthcare providers and vaccine hesitancy. In a study analyzing pediatric providers, the authors concluded that vaccine hesitancy is “under-recognized among pediatric providers attending AAP sponsored immunization conferences”; specifically, the study analyzed how there are providers who do not recommend important vaccinations such as the influenza and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, and some believe in misinterpretations of vaccines, such as how vaccines cause autism and how multiple vaccines at one time reduces its efficacy (Suryadevara et al., 2015). If there are issues with the healthcare provider’s ability to promote vaccinations, then how will this notion of vaccine hesitancy be brought …show more content…

With this study, the degree of vaccine hesitancy is targeted to one area of healthcare, pharmacy. Pharmacists play a very significant role in immunizations. According to studies that assessed the impact of pharmacists in immunizations, the studies displayed that there was an increase in vaccine coverage when the pharmacist was involved in the immunization process, whether as an educator, facilitator, administrator, or the type of vaccine being administered (Edwards et al., 2016). Areas even outside of the United States value the impact pharmacists have on immunization rates. In a study in which data was observed from before pharmacists were allowed to immunize for influenza to after in Nova Scotia, Canada, results for immunization rates increased after pharmacists were allowed to immunize with coverage increasing from 35.8% in 2012-2013 to 41.8% in 2013-2014 (Isenor et al., 2016). Based on these studies, it can be seen that the field of pharmacy is very important to immunizations, and assessing the degree of vaccine hesitancy in this area is crucial. These studies show that the pharmacist has made such an impact in patient’s receiving their vaccinations; therefore, pharmacists and their stance on vaccinations could play a significant role in the patient’s perception towards immunizations.
With an understanding of the important role pharmacists play regarding vaccinations, the objective

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