TY - JOUR
T1 - Mistrust in biomedical research and vaccine hesitancy
T2 - the forefront challenge in the battle against COVID-19 in Italy
AU - Palamenghi, Lorenzo
AU - Barello, Serena
AU - Boccia, Stefania
AU - Graffigna, Guendalina
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was conducted within the CRemona Agri-Food Technologies (CRAFT) project, supported by Fondazione Cariplo & Regione Lombardia
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Nature B.V.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/8/1
Y1 - 2020/8/1
N2 - Researchers have been working quickly and collaboratively for the development of vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. The effort of the scientific community in searching a vaccine for COVID-19 may be hampered by a diffused vaccine hesitancy. Two waves of data collection on representative samples of the Italian population (during the “first” and “second” phase of the Italian Covid-19 mitigation strategy) were conducted to understand citizens’ perceptions and behaviors about preventive behaviors willingness to vaccine for COVID-19. Our study shows that willingness to COVID-19 vaccine is correlated to trust in research and in vaccines, which decreased between phase 1 and phase 2 of the Italian pandemic. According to the results of our study, the proportion of citizens that seem to be intentioned to get the Covid-19 vaccine is probably too small to effectively stop the spreading of the disease. This requires to foster a climate of respectful mutual trust between science and society, where scientific knowledge is not only preached but also cultivated and sustained thanks to the emphatic understanding of citizens worries, needs of reassurance and health expectations.
AB - Researchers have been working quickly and collaboratively for the development of vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. The effort of the scientific community in searching a vaccine for COVID-19 may be hampered by a diffused vaccine hesitancy. Two waves of data collection on representative samples of the Italian population (during the “first” and “second” phase of the Italian Covid-19 mitigation strategy) were conducted to understand citizens’ perceptions and behaviors about preventive behaviors willingness to vaccine for COVID-19. Our study shows that willingness to COVID-19 vaccine is correlated to trust in research and in vaccines, which decreased between phase 1 and phase 2 of the Italian pandemic. According to the results of our study, the proportion of citizens that seem to be intentioned to get the Covid-19 vaccine is probably too small to effectively stop the spreading of the disease. This requires to foster a climate of respectful mutual trust between science and society, where scientific knowledge is not only preached but also cultivated and sustained thanks to the emphatic understanding of citizens worries, needs of reassurance and health expectations.
KW - Covid-19
KW - Trust in science
KW - Trust in vaccine
KW - Vaccine effectiveness
KW - Vaccine hesitancy
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U2 - 10.1007/s10654-020-00675-8
DO - 10.1007/s10654-020-00675-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 32808095
AN - SCOPUS:85089526513
SN - 0393-2990
VL - 35
SP - 785
EP - 788
JO - European Journal of Epidemiology
JF - European Journal of Epidemiology
IS - 8
ER -