How Can Pharmaceutical Companies Help Improve Vaccine Uptake?

Vaccine rates are falling in the UK, and according to the World Health Organization, vaccine hesitancy is one of the top ten threats to global health, along with climate and air pollution.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recently declared a national incident due to a growing outbreak of measles, one of the most contagious viruses. Extra clinics and vaccine buses targeted communities with low vaccination rates. Uptake of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine has also fallen worldwide in the wake of the pandemic.

The decline has been attributed to various factors, including misinformation, scepticism about efficacy, and logistical challenges in accessing vaccination services.

Previous efforts to address the issue have included a range of public health campaigns, such as ‘If we’re not vaccinated, we’re not protected’ from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and a Shingles awareness programme, ‘Get Shingles Ready,’ from pharmaceutical giant GSK.

These campaigns aim to dispel myths, provide accurate information and/or encourage vaccination uptake among different age groups and communities.

New research has found that communicating with patients about vaccine hesitancy, with a focus on empathy, could also help improve uptake.

The research tested the ‘empathetic refutational interview’ approach on more than 2,500 patients in the UK and US who had negative opinions or were on the fence about vaccination. As part of the research, healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the UK and the US were trained in an approach coined the ‘Empathetic Refutational Interview’ or ERI.

This includes:

• Learning more about the individual’s concerns will help us better understand their motivations and reservations.
• Addressing false or misleading anti-vaccination arguments by providing facts about immunisation.

However, one crucial element to ensuring the above-affected behaviour change was empathy from the healthcare professional. In fact, HCPs who affirmed participants’ concerns generated significantly more support for their refutations and subsequent information.

Misconceptions about vaccines come from myriad sources, including social and cultural factors, personal interests or ideologies.

For example, some vaccines use porcine gelatine as a stabiliser. Therefore, an anti-vaccination attitude rooted in religious beliefs, such as Islam, may be due to perceived violations of dietary norms.

There are alternatives for some vaccines, but providing patients with these hard facts without acknowledging a religious belief and the concerns that stem from it could be perceived as a direct attack on their worldview.

Findings in the Journal of Health Psychology state that without empathy, HCPs are limited in their capacity to increase vaccine acceptance and lower support for anti-vaccination arguments. However, most participants (around 64%) who experienced ERI indicated they were more open to continuing the conversation with a healthcare professional, and around 12% became more willing to be vaccinated compared to those participants who received the factual approach.

Study leader Dr Dawn Holford, Senior Research Associate in Psychology, said the results were timely given the UK is currently facing a growing measles outbreak due to falling MMR uptake.

Healthcare professionals need skills and support to effectively refute patients’ vaccine misconceptions. This is why the aforementioned research is being developed into training tools and programmes for healthcare professionals in the UK and across Europe.

However, given the need for empathy to increase efficacy, what role could pharmaceutical companies play in supporting healthcare professionals in this area?

Here are three ideas and examples to get started with:

HCP talking guides

Whether in print or via digital platforms, materials about new vaccines and potential side effects should be paired with useful phrases to use when dealing with vaccine hesitancy. Things to include could be; an overview of misconceptions relevant to the vaccine, specific words and phrases to avoid, useful phrases to use, and signposting to support services.

Patient Decision Aids 

When developing decision aids or tools for healthcare professionals to use with patients, pharmaceutical companies should identify cultural and ideological issues specific to those vaccinations and unpack them. This would help healthcare professionals develop a more nuanced approach to consultations.

Empathy training 

Provide details on exercises and develop courses focusing on communication skills, active listening, and understanding patients’ perspectives, promoting those directly to primary care physicians.

Our team can help you develop and distribute these resources to thousands of GP practices, pharmacies, and hospitals across the UK using our education pack service. Our account teams will also help you identify the correct healthcare professional targets (GPs, nurses, specialist clinicians) and refine distribution depending on patient profiles.

Get in touch with us today, and we can help you reach millions of patients and healthcare professionals.