Vaccines are one of the great achievements of medical science. They have eradicated or drastically reduced the incidence of once common diseases. It is estimated that vaccines save between 2 and 6 million lives each year, but 1.5 million more lives could be saved if coverage was increased. Vaccine hesitancy, defined by the World Health Organization as “the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines”, is a barrier to increasing coverage that has received a great deal of attention from the media and public health academics in recent years. It is argued that many parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children because of concerns about vaccine safety, despite reassurances from doctors and public health authorities. Vaccine hesitancy is a particularly big problem in high-income countries. Observers have noted that the internet and social media play an important role in spreading fears about vaccine safety. It is, however, important to understand how the wider social and political context has influenced concerns about vaccine safety. Vaccine hesitancy appears to be one aspect of a broader breakdown in trust between some sections of the population on the one hand, and elites and experts on the other.

中文翻译：

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疫苗犹豫：一个日益严重的问题

疫苗是医学科学的伟大成就之一。它们已经根除或大幅降低了曾经常见的疾病的发病率。据估计，疫苗每年可挽救 2 至 600 万人的生命，但如果扩大覆盖范围，还可挽救 150 万人的生命。疫苗犹豫，世界卫生组织将其定义为“尽管有疫苗可用，但仍不愿或拒绝接种疫苗”，是增加覆盖率的障碍，近年来受到媒体和公共卫生学者的极大关注。有人认为，尽管医生和公共卫生当局给予了保证，但由于担心疫苗安全性，许多父母仍不愿为孩子接种疫苗。在高收入国家，疫苗犹豫是一个特别大的问题。观察人士指出，互联网和社交媒体在传播对疫苗安全的担忧方面发挥着重要作用。然而，重要的是要了解更广泛的社会和政治背景如何影响对疫苗安全的担忧。一方面，疫苗的犹豫似乎是某些人群与精英和专家之间信任更广泛崩溃的一个方面。