Promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance: recommendations from the Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the US

The Lancet Commission on Vaccine Refusal, Acceptance, and Demand in the USA formed to address the persistent and important threat to public health in the USA posed by suboptimal uptake of some vaccines. ...

Since January, 2021, 20% of adults in the USA have consistently reported that they will either get vaccinated only if required for work, or not get vaccinated at all.

One of the most pressing factors contributing to this reluctance has been the unprecedented political polarisation that has affected virtually all aspects of the US pandemic response, as a partisan divide emerged during the previous administration.

Research in political science, communications, and public health have shown that the politicisation of COVID-19 and the public health response to it has been highly detrimental to the success of the US response to the pandemic. ...

The anti-vaccine movement in the USA is undermining public health. When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, in 2020, many anti-vaccine groups were already organised and ready to campaign against masks, contact tracing, physical distancing, and other measures essential to pandemic control....

Ultimately, the major sources of anti-COVID-19 vaccine aggression emerging in the USA were led by political elements from the far right, together with anti-vaccine non-governmental organisations, including those identified as the so-called disinformation dozen by the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Such activities were further amplified by state actors, including Russia, seeking to destabilise the USA.

To address the gaps outlined in this report, the Commission presents some recommendations to national, state, and local governments, as well as to other public and private entities.

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