Communication Interventions and Assessment of Drivers for Hendra Virus Vaccination Uptake

Hendra virus disease (HeVD) is an emerging zoonosis in Australia, resulting from the transmission of Hendra virus (HeV) to horses from Pteropus bats. Vaccine uptake for horses is low despite the high case fatality rate of HeVD in both horses and people. We reviewed evidence-based communication interventions to promote and improve HeV vaccine uptake for horses by horse owners and conducted a preliminary evaluation of potential drivers for HeV vaccine uptake using the Behavioural and Social Drivers of Vaccination (BeSD) framework developed by the World Health Organization. Six records were eligible for review following a comprehensive search and review strategy of peer-reviewed literature, but evidence-based communication interventions to promote and improve HeV vaccine uptake for horses were lacking. An evaluation of potential drivers for HeV vaccine uptake using the BeSD framework indicated that horse owners’ perceptions, beliefs, social processes, and practical issues are similar to those experienced by parents making decisions about childhood vaccines, although the overall motivation to vaccinate is lower amongst horse owners. Some aspects of HeV vaccine uptake are not accounted for in the BeSD framework (for example, alternative mitigation strategies such as covered feeding stations or the zoonotic risk of HeV). Overall, problems associated with HeV vaccine uptake appear well-documented. We, therefore, propose to move from a problems-focused to a solutions-focused approach to reduce the risk of HeV for humans and horses. Following our findings, we suggest that the BeSD framework could be modified and used to develop and evaluate communication interventions to promote and improve HeV vaccine uptake by horse owners, which could have a global application to promote vaccine uptake for other zoonotic diseases in animals, such as rabies.