Pro-actief inspelen op COVID-19 vaccinatietwijfel om de effectiviteit van vaccinatiecampagnes in België te verhogen : een transdisciplinaire aanpak.

Tackling the current COVID-19 pandemic will require effective
vaccines for individual protection and potential group immunity to
reduce transmission. If vaccines are developed, Belgium will likely
face challenges with COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Heightened antivaccination
sentiments are proliferating around the world. These
sentiments are related to ‘post-truth’ perceptions, i.e. increased
skepticism towards science and authorities in general, as well as
skepticism specifically towards vaccine safety and effectiveness.
Emerging signs of escalating mistrust can be linked to such
sentiments and perceptions, compounded with pandemic anxieties
and incertitude (‘insufficient knowledge’) around scientific expertise
and the politics of pandemic management. A strategy is urgently
needed to guide Belgian public health authorities on how to promote
vaccine acceptance among the population. This project aims to use
an innovative hybrid monitoring tool to assess both on-line and onthe-
ground vaccine sentiments qualitatively and quantitatively.
Interventions that are responsive to the identified emerging vaccine
concerns and controversies will be co-created with community and
public health stakeholders and aim to place public health agencies in
a position to pro-actively counteract vaccine hesitancy prior to
COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Belgium.