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Today is the 38th National Childhood Immunization Day, with the theme of "Vaccination for the Whole Life Cycle".
Since the launch of the immunization program in 1978, the immunization program in mainland China has achieved remarkable results, with the incidence of rubella in children and adolescents significantly reduced, the reported incidence of hepatitis A significantly reduced, and the incidence of Japanese encephalitis at an all-time low...... Vaccines not only benefit children and adolescents, but also protect them throughout the life cycle. However, one of the main reasons for the low vaccination rate of some non-immunization program vaccines in mainland China is that some members of the public are "vaccine hesitant". To solve the problem, it is necessary to explore the internal causes from the perspective of the recipient and take corresponding measures.
The safety and efficacy of vaccines are the most important concerns of the public, and they are also an important factor affecting the willingness to be vaccinated. While implementing the strictest supervision, the relevant departments should also strengthen science popularization and communication and interaction, and enhance the public's scientific understanding of vaccines. For example, drug regulators should continuously monitor the safety, efficacy, and incidence of preventable diseases of vaccines, and on the other hand, they should also make public the results of relevant assessments in a timely manner to respond to public concerns. There can also be more ways to popularize science, such as holding open days and inviting the public to walk into vaccine production workshops and storage and transportation sites, so that the public can see with their own eyes how vaccines are produced, stored and transported, and enhance awareness and understanding.
Improving the level of vaccination services is an important measure to enhance the public's willingness to be vaccinated. Over the past few decades, the vaccination coverage rate of the mainland immunization programme has increased significantly, which is closely related to the improvement of vaccination services. In the future, we need to continue to make efforts in the refinement and accuracy of vaccination services. For example, comprehensive medical evaluation is carried out for children in special health conditions, and scientific vaccination programs are provided to relieve the worries of these children about vaccination. In recent years, some regions and cities have set up medical assessment clinics for children with special health conditions, which is a useful attempt. Next, it is necessary to establish a long-term assessment and follow-up mechanism, form a closed-loop management, and continuously improve the scientific and standardized services so that more children in special health conditions can be vaccinated in a timely manner.
Price is also an important factor affecting the willingness of recipients to be vaccinated, and the herpes zoster vaccine, which costs more than 1,000 yuan, discourages many elderly people. In this regard, the relevant departments can learn from the medical insurance negotiation model and exchange volume for price through volume procurement. At the same time, in order to avoid the monopoly of a single variety, vaccine research and development, especially domestic vaccine research and development, should be encouraged. In fact, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has changed from a high price and difficult to find a "vaccine" in previous years to a current price reduction and easy to make an appointment for vaccination, which is closely related to the fact that many domestic HPV vaccines have been launched in the past two years. Therefore, relevant departments should encourage enterprises to continuously strengthen their R&D capabilities and motivation from the aspects of system design.
In short, more empathy, more public perspectives, to find out the causes, and to take targeted measures may make it easier to increase the willingness to vaccinate.
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Text: Health News Commentator
Editor: Guan Zhongyao
Proofreading: Ma Yang
Review: Qin Mingrui, Xu Bingnan