Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy and the Resurgence of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

Endorsed in:

September, 2024

Paper Type:

Position Paper

Authors:

Ariana Mihan, MPH*

Tanvir Chakkal, MSc*

Camille Cassel de Camps, PhD*

*All authors contributed equally to this work

Background:

The development of vaccines was a critical breakthrough in the eradication of many
communicable diseases, such as eradication of endemic measles transmission in Canada in 1998.
Unfortunately, in the past decade, there has been increased vaccine hesitancy with reduced vaccination
uptake leading to the resurgence of those preventable diseases. Most recently, there has been an
alarming increase in measles cases in Canada, with a steady increase from zero new cases in 2021 to 3
in 2022, 12 in 2023, and 81 cases as of August 2024. Misinformation surrounding vaccines, limited
access to healthcare resources, and poor health literacy are a few reasons that account for the declining
rates of vaccinations. These factors pose challenges to the healthcare community, who are responsible
for delivering evidence-based medicine and promoting the prevention of communicable diseases. This
position paper proposes multifaceted recommendations aiming to address vaccine hesitancy. These
recommendations target community health literacy concerns, limited resource availability, as well as gaps
in medical education and physician practice related to navigating patient vaccine hesitancy and reduced
immunization rates.

Recommendations:

The Ontario Medical Students Association recommends the following:

That Canadian medical schools implement training protocols to equip students in combating
vaccine hesitancy and misinformation through collaboration with CAME, Public Health Ontario,
and relevant school committees.;
That Public Health Ontario’s Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee along with local public
health units implement outreach educational and advocacy programs to address resource gaps
and poor health literacy causing decreased vaccine uptake in rural regions.
That Public Health Ontario’s Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee develops a vaccination
counsellor point-of-care program to increase vaccine accessibility.