Factors affecting vaccine uptake rate: the story of measles, mumps and rubella

Abstract

Vaccine uptake can greatly impact on the ability of a country or region to eliminate a disease, which could be detrimental to society if allowed free reign. A high vaccine coverage can produce herd immunity, which confers protection upon the unvaccinated individuals within the population. Although some countries take a voluntary approach to vaccination policies, other countries have mandatory vaccination for specific pathogens. There is a clear inverse correlation between vaccine uptake and incidence of disease and in many countries a trivalent vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella is included in the vaccination schedule. Although naturally acquired immunity is gained from infection by the circulating wild-type virus, the live attenuated vaccine has an effect which wanes over a period of time. In recent years, there has been a global spike in the incidence of both measles and mumps and some authorities are using a third dose of the vaccine to inhibit the spread of any outbreaks which occur. Many factors, such as concerns over vaccine safety and susceptibility to disease have had an impact on vaccine uptake and media bias and misinformation have played a role. With the occurrence of a global pandemic of COVID-19 beginning in late 2019 and continuing for the duration of 2020, access to healthcare and routine vaccination have been affected and vaccine programmes interrupted because of the need for social distancing measures. This may have an impact on future generations, as a significant decline can reduce herd immunity, allowing diseases, which had obtained elimination status to re-emerge.