PolicyLab

Despite availability and routine recommendation of these vaccines, approximately 42,000 adults and 300 children in the United States still die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases. While ongoing vaccination programs help to keep these diseases at bay, some vaccine-preventable diseases have been re-emerging. A rise in vaccine hesitancy—a behavior influenced by lack of trust in the medical community, concerns about vaccine safety, efficacy, necessity or convenience and other issues related to vaccination—has contributed to undervaccination through parental decisions to delay or refuse vaccines for their children.

A new PolicyLab Evidence to Action brief summarizes research findings around the causes and effects of vaccine hesitancy, and proposes policy changes that could lead to increased vaccination rates and greater protection for the current and future health of our children. To accompany the brief, we’ve developed some materials that we hope can help you promote the reports recommendations to your networks or for use in any vaccine-policy advocacy you engage in. This social media toolkit contains hashtags, suggested tweets and infographics that you can use to disseminate these messages to your social networks.