Public Perceptions of Vaccine Development

On 1st June 2023, the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Research Hub (Vax-Hub) held an in-person workshop to discuss:

drivers of vaccine uptake and the implications of these drivers for the vaccine development process;
areas where public perceptions of vaccine development have implications for vaccine uptake;
ideas for actions that can be implemented to address these drivers;
actions that the Vax-Hub team could take forward in the next phase of their research.

The workshop brought together the Vax-Hub team with a range of academics and policymakers involved in vaccine development, manufacturing, delivery, and policy.

Key points

Public perceptions of vaccine development are influenced by cognitive and behavioural responses, social drivers, and practical barriers. These drivers overlap with other factors such as underlying health conditions, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender.
To ensure meaningful public engagement, there are challenges to overcome in terms of collaboration, communication beyond one-way information-provision, funding, skills, time, and resources for those engaged in public engagement activities.
Primary goals for public and policy engagement should be: include the public in the design and delivery of activities, develop indicators for effective community engagement based on what is known about the challenges with uptake, identify equity measures, build networks, coordinate with other stakeholders involved in vaccine development and delivery, and learn from successes elsewhere.

Context

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the issues of disparities in vaccine uptake and public perceptions of vaccines in the UK. Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways to avoid disease.1 Vaccines prevented 2-3 million deaths per year (in 2019) and 1.5 million deaths could be avoided by improving global coverage of vaccines. Several policy documents, studies and articles have illustrated the importance of behavioural and social determinants in shaping the public’s willingness, intent to get vaccinated and uptake of vaccines.