Vaccine hesitancy in Western and Eastern Europe: The significance of contextual influences
Using the example of Eastern and Western Europe, the paper points out the importance of contextual influences on decisions and behaviour regarding vaccines and vaccination. Contextual determinants have been identified as important in theorizing the concept of vaccine hesitancy that allows f...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade
2022-01-01
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Series: | Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2022/0350-08612203153T.pdf |
Summary: | Using the example of Eastern and Western Europe, the paper points out the
importance of contextual influences on decisions and behaviour regarding
vaccines and vaccination. Contextual determinants have been identified as
important in theorizing the concept of vaccine hesitancy that allows for a
comprehensive understanding of the reasons why the public questions
vaccines. Therefore, the paper first presents the theoretical elaboration of
the aforementioned concept, and then discusses the contextual influences on
vaccine hesitancy within the European region in order to showcase the
differences that exist in this respect between Western and Eastern Europe,
as well as between certain minority communities and the majority population
in some Western European countries. In all cases, vaccine hesitancy appears
to be a matter of trust which has been further eroded by social, political
and economic experiences characteristic for the post-socialist context in
Eastern Europe and the conditions in which some minority communities live in
Western Europe. The theoretical framework of the concept of vaccine
hesitancy is presented according to the report of the SAGE Working Group on
Vaccine Hesitancy, while the presentation of contextual determinants is
based on the results of quantitative and qualitative research in different
European countries and reviews of studies that focus on these influences. |
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ISSN: | 0350-0861 2334-8259 |