Thorakkattil Shabeer Ali, Abdulsalim Suhaj, Karattuthodi Mohammed Salim, Unnikrishnan Mazhuvanchery Kesavan, Rashid Muhammed, Thunga Girish
Pharmacy Services Department, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH), Dhahran 34465, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Buraydah 52571, Saudi Arabia.
Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Jun 30;10(7):1059. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10071059.
Vaccines are the best tools to end the pandemic, and their public acceptance is crucial in achieving herd immunity. Despite global efforts to increase access to vaccination, the World Health Organization explicitly lists vaccination hesitancy (VH) as a significant threat. Despite robust safety reports from regulatory authorities and public health advisories, a substantial proportion of the community remains obsessed with the hazards of vaccination. This calls for identifying and eliminating possible causative elements, among which this study investigates the inappropriate dissemination of medical literature concerning COVID-19 and adverse events following immunization (AEFI), its influence on promoting VH, and proposals for overcoming this problem in the future.
We searched PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases, using the keywords "adverse events following immunization (AEFI)", "COVID-19", "vaccines" and "hesitancy" and related medical and subjective headings (MeSH) up to 31 March 2022, and extracted studies relevant to the COVID-19 AEFI and associated VH. Finally, 47 articles were chosen to generate a narrative synthesis.
The databases depicted a steep rise in publications on COVID-19 AEFI and COVID-19 VH from January 2021 onwards. The articles depicted multiple events of mild AEFIs without fatal events in recipients. While documenting AEFIs is praiseworthy, publishing such reports without prior expert surveillance can exaggerate public apprehension and inappropriately fuel VH. VH is a deep-rooted phenomenon, but it is difficult to zero in on the exact reason for it. Spreading rumors/misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines might be an important provocation for VH, which includes indiscriminately reporting AEFI on a massive scale. While a number of reported AEFIs fall within the acceptable limits in the course of extensive COVID-19 vaccinations, it is important to critically evaluate and moderate the reporting and dissemination of AEFI in order to allay panic.
Vaccination programs are necessary to end any pandemic, and VH may be attributed to multiple reasons. VH may be assuaged by initiating educational programs on the importance of vaccination, raising public awareness and monitoring the inappropriate dissemination of misleading information. Government-initiated strategies can potentially restrict random AEFI reports from lay epidemiologists and healthcare practitioners.
疫苗是终结疫情的最佳工具，公众对疫苗的接受度对于实现群体免疫至关重要。尽管全球都在努力增加疫苗接种机会，但世界卫生组织明确将疫苗犹豫列为重大威胁。尽管监管机构和公共卫生咨询机构发布了有力的安全性报告，但仍有相当一部分人执着于疫苗接种的风险。这就需要识别并消除可能的致病因素，本研究调查了关于新冠病毒疾病（COVID-19）和免疫接种后不良事件（AEFI）的医学文献的不当传播、其对推动疫苗犹豫的影响以及未来克服这一问题的建议。
我们检索了PubMed、Embase和Scopus数据库，使用关键词“免疫接种后不良事件（AEFI）”、“COVID-19”、“疫苗”和“犹豫”以及相关医学和主题词（MeSH），截至2022年3月31日，并提取了与COVID-19 AEFI和相关疫苗犹豫相关的研究。最后，选择了47篇文章进行叙述性综合分析。
数据库显示，自2021年1月起，关于COVID-19 AEFI和COVID-19疫苗犹豫的出版物急剧增加。文章描述了接种者中多起轻度AEFI事件，无致命事件。虽然记录AEFI值得称赞，但在没有事先专家监督的情况下发布此类报告可能会夸大公众的担忧，并不适当地助长疫苗犹豫。疫苗犹豫是一种根深蒂固的现象，但很难确定其确切原因。传播关于COVID-19疫苗的谣言/错误信息可能是疫苗犹豫的一个重要诱因，其中包括大规模不加区分地报告AEFI。虽然在广泛的COVID-19疫苗接种过程中，许多报告的AEFI在可接受范围内，但为了缓解恐慌，对AEFI的报告和传播进行严格评估和适度控制非常重要。
疫苗接种计划对于终结任何疫情都是必要的，疫苗犹豫可能归因于多种原因。可以通过开展关于疫苗接种重要性的教育项目、提高公众意识以及监测误导性信息的不当传播来缓解疫苗犹豫。政府发起的策略可能会限制非专业流行病学家和医疗从业者随意报告AEFI。
