Inoculation theory explains how an existing state (an attitude, a belief, a position) can be made more resistant to future influence, in much the same way a medical inoculation can make an existing state (a healthy body) more resistant to future viral influence: through pre-exposure to weakened forms of challenges. The theory has established efficacy as an effective messaging strategy in a number of contexts, including politics and health. Another area that has received attention in inoculation theory scholarship is public relations. A comprehensive review of this work, however, is long overdue. We outline existing work in inoculation theory and public relations, and then show how inoculation theory and public relations research can bring new applications and theoretical development to the public relations areas of (1) issues management; (2) crisis and risk communication; and (3) character assassination.

接种理论解释了如何使现有状态（态度、信念、立场）更能抵抗未来的影响，就像医疗接种可以使现有状态（健康的身体）更能抵抗未来的病毒影响一样：通过预先暴露于弱化形式的挑战。该理论已经确立了在包括政治和健康在内的许多情况下作为有效信息传递策略的有效性。接种理论研究中另一个受到关注的领域是公共关系。然而，对这项工作的全面审查姗姗来迟。我们概述了接种理论和公共关系方面的现有工作，然后展示了接种理论和公共关系研究如何为（1）问题管理的公共关系领域带来新的应用和理论发展；(2) 危机与风险沟通；（三）人物暗杀。