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Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions

Low vaccine uptake in South Tyrol, particularly for non-coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, poses a significant public health challenge in the northernmost province of Italy. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of vaccine-sceptical parents to examine the fac...

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Autores principales: Wiedermann, Christian J., Koler, Peter, Tauber, Sara, Plagg, Barbara, Psaier, Vera, Barbieri, Verena, Piccoliori, Giuliano, Engl, Adolf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10341176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37444742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11131908
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author Wiedermann, Christian J.
Koler, Peter
Tauber, Sara
Plagg, Barbara
Psaier, Vera
Barbieri, Verena
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Engl, Adolf
author_facet Wiedermann, Christian J.
Koler, Peter
Tauber, Sara
Plagg, Barbara
Psaier, Vera
Barbieri, Verena
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Engl, Adolf
author_sort Wiedermann, Christian J.
collection PubMed
description Low vaccine uptake in South Tyrol, particularly for non-coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, poses a significant public health challenge in the northernmost province of Italy. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of vaccine-sceptical parents to examine the factors that contribute to their vaccination decisions. The ten participants’ children had varied vaccination statuses, ranging from unvaccinated to partially vaccinated or vaccinated as late as possible. Only one adult participant received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Using Grounded Theory analysis, the emergent meta-category of ‘self-relatedness’ was identified, highlighting the importance of individual experiences and the social context. The study found that participants’ social circles consisted of individuals with similar vaccination attitudes, often characterized by a shared affinity for nature. Although they accepted individuals with different views, they remained uninfluenced. Participants perceived healthcare professionals as one-sided and uncritical, expressing distrust toward state orders. They believed that parents should be responsible for their children’s well-being rather than the state. Distrust in the state and healthcare system, exacerbated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, was rooted in negative experiences. In contrast, the participants had positive experiences with natural healing, homeopathy, and trusting the natural course of events. They perceived themselves as tolerant, non-radical, curious, health-conscious, yet critical and questioning. Participants resisted coercion, fear-mongering, and state sanctions and sought alternatives to mandatory vaccination. To address the complex social and behavioural factors underlying vaccination refusal, this study suggests that vaccination advocates, policymakers, and information providers should engage in appreciative, personal, and well-founded information exchanges with vaccine-hesitant individuals. Broad and comprehensible information dissemination, flexibility, and freedom of decision are essential for increasing informed decision making. Further research is required to better understand the epistemic basis of vaccine hesitancy.
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spelling pubmed-103411762023-07-14 Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions Wiedermann, Christian J. Koler, Peter Tauber, Sara Plagg, Barbara Psaier, Vera Barbieri, Verena Piccoliori, Giuliano Engl, Adolf Healthcare (Basel) Article Low vaccine uptake in South Tyrol, particularly for non-coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, poses a significant public health challenge in the northernmost province of Italy. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of vaccine-sceptical parents to examine the factors that contribute to their vaccination decisions. The ten participants’ children had varied vaccination statuses, ranging from unvaccinated to partially vaccinated or vaccinated as late as possible. Only one adult participant received the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Using Grounded Theory analysis, the emergent meta-category of ‘self-relatedness’ was identified, highlighting the importance of individual experiences and the social context. The study found that participants’ social circles consisted of individuals with similar vaccination attitudes, often characterized by a shared affinity for nature. Although they accepted individuals with different views, they remained uninfluenced. Participants perceived healthcare professionals as one-sided and uncritical, expressing distrust toward state orders. They believed that parents should be responsible for their children’s well-being rather than the state. Distrust in the state and healthcare system, exacerbated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, was rooted in negative experiences. In contrast, the participants had positive experiences with natural healing, homeopathy, and trusting the natural course of events. They perceived themselves as tolerant, non-radical, curious, health-conscious, yet critical and questioning. Participants resisted coercion, fear-mongering, and state sanctions and sought alternatives to mandatory vaccination. To address the complex social and behavioural factors underlying vaccination refusal, this study suggests that vaccination advocates, policymakers, and information providers should engage in appreciative, personal, and well-founded information exchanges with vaccine-hesitant individuals. Broad and comprehensible information dissemination, flexibility, and freedom of decision are essential for increasing informed decision making. Further research is required to better understand the epistemic basis of vaccine hesitancy. MDPI 2023-07-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10341176/ /pubmed/37444742 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11131908 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wiedermann, Christian J.
Koler, Peter
Tauber, Sara
Plagg, Barbara
Psaier, Vera
Barbieri, Verena
Piccoliori, Giuliano
Engl, Adolf
Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title_full Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title_fullStr Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title_full_unstemmed Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title_short Unravelling Vaccine Scepticism in South Tyrol, Italy: A Qualitative Analysis of Personal, Relational, and Structural Factors Influencing Vaccination Decisions
title_sort unravelling vaccine scepticism in south tyrol, italy: a qualitative analysis of personal, relational, and structural factors influencing vaccination decisions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10341176/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37444742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11131908
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