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Public Health & Epidemiology vocabulary · Prevention and Vaccination

Vaccine hesitancy

Meaning in public health & epidemiology, with examples

/ˈvæksiːn ˈhezɪtənsi/nounCore term

In public health & epidemiology, vaccine hesitancy means: A delay in accepting, or a refusal of, vaccines even when vaccination services are available, often driven by doubts, mistrust or misinformation.

In Turkish: aşı tereddüdü, aşı kararsızlığı

How it is used

WHO listed it among the ten threats to global health in 2019. Experts talk about addressing, tackling or understanding vaccine hesitancy and stress that hesitant parents are not the same as committed anti-vaccine activists.

Example sentences

  1. Vaccine hesitancy among young parents has grown since the pandemic.

  2. Family doctors are often the best people to address vaccine hesitancy.

Common collocations

  • address vaccine hesitancy
  • vaccine confidence
  • vaccine refusal
  • vaccine misinformation
  • vaccinationGiving a vaccine to a person so that their immune system learns to protect them against a specific infectious disease.
  • vaccination coverageThe percentage of people in a target group who have received a particular vaccine or all the required doses, such as children who had two doses of measles vaccine by age two.
  • risk communicationThe real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, officials and the public about a health threat, so that people can make informed decisions to protect themselves.
  • health literacyThe ability to find, understand, judge and use health information to make decisions about one's own health and health care.

More terms: Prevention and Vaccination

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.