A hesitação vacinal e suas consequências: uma revisão da literatura

Abstract

Immunization is the main way to fight immuno-preventable diseases, through the administration of antigens that will be recognized by the organism as foreign agents, stimulating the production of antibodies and defense cells, which will neutralize and/or eliminate the microorganism. At the end of the 20th century, it was considered by the CDC one of the ten greatest achievements in the field of public health, having been essential to decrease mortality and morbidity from diseases, and responsible for the eradication of smallpox. It is the most effective, safest, and most cost-effective for preventing immunopreventable diseases. Despite the obvious importance of vaccination and all the efforts expended on it, anti-vaccination movements and vaccine hesitancy are becoming more and more frequent. The present study is a review of the literature on vaccine hesitancy, his consequences, the antivaccine movement, as well as general aspects of immunization and factors that lead to vaccine hesitancy. PubMed, Google Scholar, Wiley Library, Lilacs, Scielo, Virtual Health Library, textbooks, and websites of national and international organizations are searched. English and Portuguese terms were used. The study addressed the general aspects of immunization, types of vaccine development platform, post-vaccination adverse effects, National Immunization Program (NIP), vaccine safety, vaccine hesitancy, the antivaccine movement and the spread of fake news, and finally, the consequences of vaccine hesitancy. The studies showed the importance of individual vaccination and high vaccination coverage rates as a way to eradicate diseases and prevent the return of already eradicated diseases. The drop in vaccination coverage of specific vaccines such as measles, as a result of the spread of false and manipulated news, has resulted in several measles outbreaks around the world. The large amount of information circulating on the internet, especially after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, has led lay people to take over scientific terms and spread intentionally false or unscientific news, decreasing vaccine adherence to the COVID-19 vaccine and leading people to doubt other vaccines, which may bring up diseases already under control and hinder the success of the COVID-19 vaccination.