Boost vaccine confidence with trust, not ire

Peter Hotez offers a counteroffensive to aggressive anti-vaccine disinformation (Nature 592, 661; 2021). However, vaccine hesitancy, rather than outright resistance, is a more important contributor to low COVID-vaccine uptake in certain communities. The concerns of vaccine-hesitant individuals are less polarized and so call for thoughtful handling.

In a large representative UK sample, the proportion of vaccine-hesitant respondents was four times greater than the proportion who were vaccine-resistant (J. Murphy et al. Nature Commun. 12, 29; 2021). COVID vaccine hesitancy includes reservations around safety, efficacy and the speed of the vaccine release (K. Pogue et al. Vaccines 8, 582; 2020).

A forceful counteroffensive risks widening the divide between those open to being vaccinated and those who are not, as well as alienating those with reasonable concerns about COVID vaccines. To avert a dwindling of trust in government and scientific authorities and promote the well-being of society, we must enact constructive ways to deal with vaccine hesitancy that are centred around respect, openness and empathy.