The Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP) founded in 2010 by

Heidi Larson Heidi J. Larson is an American anthropologist and the founding director of the Vaccine Confidence Project. Larson headed Global Immunisation Communication at UNICEF and she is the author of '' Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't ...

, was developed in response to hesitancy and misinformation on

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

programmes such as those that caused a boycott of

polio eradication Polio eradication, the permanent global cessation of circulation by the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes, is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988, led by the World Health Organiz ...

efforts in Northern Nigeria in 2003–04. It is an

early warning system An early warning system is a warning system that can be implemented as a chain of information communication systems and comprises sensors, event detection and decision subsystems for early identification of hazards. They work together to for ...

to identify and evaluate public confidence in vaccines, with the purpose of tackling the problem early, when it is likely to be manageable. Housed in the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Centre, the VCP uses a diagnostic tool that finds what sparks vaccine rumours, examines and evaluates what spreads those rumours and calculates the potential impact. It is a member of the Vaccine Safety Net, a project led by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

Origins

The vaccine confidence project was founded in 2010 by Heidi Larson, and developed in response to rumours and misinformation about vaccines such as those that caused a boycott of polio eradication efforts in Northern Nigeria in 2003–04. It is housed in the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Centre. Among industry funders, the project is supported by vaccine manufacturers

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

, Merck & Co., and

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

, as well as by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries & Associations, and the industry-funded Innovative Medicines Initiative.

Purpose

The purpose of the project is to monitor public confidence in immunisation programmes by building an information surveillance system for early detection of public concerns around vaccines.

The VCP is an early-warning system which identifies and evaluates public confidence in vaccines, with monitoring capabilities in some 63 languages. It aims at tackling problems early, when they are likely to be manageable, because as Larson explains: "early detection of and timely response to vaccine rumours can prevent loss of public confidence in immunization". It then aims to inform policy-makers of its findings.

The toolkit

The VCP uses a diagnostic tool that finds what sparks vaccine rumours, examines and evaluates what spreads those rumours and calculates the potential impact.

Rumour diagnostic tool

Source: Larson presentation, 13 December 2016.

Research

The VCP is a member of the Vaccine Safety Net, a project led by the

. Its researchers and team members include anthropologists, digital analysts, epidemiologists and psychologists. In 2011, research by the VCP found that refusal to vaccinate against polio increased in the Taliban dominant areas of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

and

FATA , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

following rumours about the polio eradication programmes, triggered by the story of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

's fake immunisation campaign in the search for Bin Laden. In spring of 2020, the VCP carried out a survey of people's attitudes to a

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

. The following September, in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'', the VCP published the largest known study on vaccine confidence modelling. The study looked at data on the importance, efficacy and safety of vaccines in 290 national surveys of 284,381 adults in 149 countries, and found wide variation around the world.

References

{{Reflist Health advocacy groups Vaccination-related organizations London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine