Vaccine hesitancy, misinformation in the era of Covid-19: Lessons from the past

BACKGROUND: As the world has challenged/argued with the Covid-19 pandemic over the last two years, there has been an increase in vaccine misinformation. Although immunity against Covid-19 infection is limited to 4–6 months and requires at least three doses of vaccine to be maximally effective, the current vaccination campaign in industrialized countries shows that vaccinated citizens experience greater immunological protection against severe forms of the disease than unvaccinated citizens. METHODOLOGY: A perusal of the literature was performed in order to reconstruct the communication methods applied in the managing of the Covid-19 pandemic; the management of the current pandemic was compared with the management of another scourge of the past: poliomyelitis. RESULTS/DISCUSSION: In order to raise public awareness on public health issues, it is essential that governments and institutions communicate scientific data to all sections of the population in an unambiguous way. In this sense, it is essential to apply “prebunking”, which is a layered defense system available to society that prevents misinformation before it is spread. This is to avoid the subsequent debunking of false information, which generates insecurity and fuels fears. Belief in medical misinformation represents a meaningful problem for public health efforts to fight Covid-19 through vaccination. CONCLUSION/PERSPECTIVES: In this sense an example of proper management of one of the many epidemics of the recent past, poliomyelitis, should make us reflect on the effectiveness of past approaches. This testimony from the past can provide us with food for thought regarding how to face the present Covid-19 pandemic and to prepare for the future. Certainly, it shows us how the awful pandemics/epidemics from the past was handled and finally overcome, despite perceived risk and vaccine hesitancy.