Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics

Psychosocial Aspects of Vaccination: Understanding the Human Dimensions of Immunization

Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics is pleased to welcome you to submit your research to the Article Collection "Psychosocial Aspects of Vaccination: Understanding the Human Dimensions of Immunization".

Vaccination is among the most effective public health achievements, preventing millions of deaths and substantially reducing the burden of infectious diseases globally. However, vaccine acceptance and hesitancy are not determined solely by vaccine availability, effectiveness, or safety. Rather, they emerge from a complex interplay of psychological, social, cultural, religious, and structural factors. Research has demonstrated that trust in healthcare systems, confidence in vaccines, perceived risks and benefits, health literacy, social norms, emotional responses, and exposure to misinformation all contribute to shaping vaccine-related attitudes and decisions.

Increasingly, vaccine hesitancy and acceptance are recognized as socially embedded phenomena that reflect broader societal processes, including trust formation, cultural values, religious beliefs, social identity, and experiences of inequality. Understanding these psychosocial influences is critical for explaining variations in vaccine confidence across populations and contexts. This Article Collection aims to advance interdisciplinary research on the psychosocial factors that shape vaccine hesitancy, acceptance, and confidence, with the goal of informing equitable and socially responsive immunisation policies and practices.

Vaccine hesitancy has become one of the most pressing challenges facing immunisation programmes worldwide. Although safe and effective vaccines are available for many infectious diseases, concerns related to trust, misinformation, fear, uncertainty, and social inequalities continue to influence vaccine acceptance across diverse populations. Emerging evidence suggests that vaccine attitudes are shaped not only by knowledge and information but also by emotional experiences, cultural worldviews, religious beliefs, social relationships, and perceptions of institutional trustworthiness.

Furthermore, socioeconomic disadvantage, marginalisation, and historical experiences of exclusion may contribute to lower levels of vaccine confidence and greater vulnerability to misinformation. Cultural and religious values can also play important roles in determining how communities perceive vaccination and engage with immunisation programmes. While substantial efforts have focused on behavioural interventions to improve uptake, a deeper understanding of the psychosocial roots of vaccine hesitancy and acceptance remains essential. Such insights can contribute to more inclusive public health strategies, strengthen trust in vaccination programmes, reduce inequities, and support sustainable vaccine acceptance in both routine and emergency immunisation contexts.

This Article Collection welcomes interdisciplinary research examining the psychosocial determinants of vaccine hesitancy, acceptance, and confidence across different populations, cultures, and health systems. Particular emphasis will be placed on studies that explore the underlying psychological, emotional, social, cultural, religious, and structural influences that shape vaccine-related attitudes and decisions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Psychosocial determinants of vaccine hesitancy and acceptance.
• Vaccine confidence, trust, mistrust, and institutional credibility.
• Emotional influences on vaccine attitudes, including fear, anxiety, uncertainty, hope, and perceived control.
• Psychological well-being and mental health factors associated with vaccine acceptance and hesitancy.
• Cultural beliefs, traditions, and values influencing vaccine confidence.
• Religious beliefs and faith-based perspectives on vaccine acceptance.
• Social identity, collective responsibility, and community influences on vaccine attitudes.
• Family dynamics and interpersonal relationships in vaccine decision-making.
• Health literacy, vaccine literacy, and information processing.
• Misinformation, conspiracy beliefs, and digital information environments.
• Socioeconomic inequalities and social determinants of vaccine confidence and acceptance.
• Structural vulnerability, marginalisation, and vaccine hesitancy among underserved populations.
• Trust-building, social cohesion, and community engagement in promoting vaccine confidence.
• Cross-cultural comparisons of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy.
• Ethical, moral, and value-based perspectives on vaccination.
• Psychosocial responses to emerging infectious diseases and newly introduced vaccines.
• Measurement development and validation of psychosocial constructs related to vaccine hesitancy and acceptance.
• Theoretical and conceptual advances in understanding vaccine confidence.

Therefore, the Collection invites Original Research Articles, Systematic Reviews, Meta-Analyses, Scoping Reviews, Brief Reports, Perspectives, Commentaries, and Policy Analyses. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, implementation, and cross-cultural studies are particularly encouraged, especially those generating actionable insights for vaccination policy, communication, and practice. Contributions from low- and middle-income countries and other underrepresented settings are especially encouraged to strengthen the global evidence base.

Keywords: Health equity; Social drivers of vaccination; Vaccine Acceptance; Vaccine Hesitancy; Psychosocial determinants; Cultural aspects

Meet the Guest Advisors

Chung-Ying Lin, PhD, Full Professor in the Institute of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Occupational Therapy, Department of Public Health, and Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. His research interests include health behaviors (e.g., vaccine acceptance), mental health, quality of life, addictive behaviors, and psychometric testing. Based on his expertise, he has developed and validated various instruments to assess people’s health and behaviors.

Dr. Daniel Kwasi Ahorsu is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education and Counselling at The Education University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on mental health, psychopathology, health psychology, behavioral medicine, and public health, with particular interests in psychological well-being, vaccine-related behaviors, health promotion, and the psychosocial impacts of infectious diseases.

Prof. Cheng-Fang Yen, M.D., Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at Kaohsiung Medical University and is an attending doctor at Department of Psychiatry at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His main research interests are social psychiatry, mental health of children and adolescents, gender study, and addictive behaviors.