[In-Depth Review] Vaccine Inoculation, Trust Must Come First

“People sometimes fear the side effects of vaccines more than the infectious diseases themselves.” This is the claim of behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman. Having accurately read the anxiety surrounding vaccines, he received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for his work on ‘bounded rationality.’ Behavioral economists analyze that human rationality is limited and that people sometimes make emotional choices influenced by social impact, surrounding atmosphere, and psychological factors.

Recently, issues have arisen not only around vaccine development competition but also safety and securing supply. Similar controversies existed when the smallpox prevention method, one of the most feared diseases in human history, was introduced. Until the 18th century, the smallpox prevention method involved variolation, which directly inoculated material extracted from infected individuals, but in 1796, Edward Jenner in England developed vaccination by inoculating cowpox virus extracted from cows infected with smallpox.

Jenner focused on the fact that people infected with cowpox did not contract smallpox. However, there was continued public resistance to inoculating humans with the virus from cows infected with cowpox. A hundred years later, Louis Pasteur developed vaccines through various methods to prevent infectious diseases while striving to reduce side effects. Additionally, the term “vaccine” for preventive inoculation was coined to commemorate Jenner’s achievement of extracting cowpox virus from cows.

French philosopher Bruno Latour explained in his 1984 book Bacteria: War and Peace that Pasteur’s absolute contribution was key to people trusting vaccines. Pasteur created vaccines and personally received inoculations to reduce public resistance and gain trust. Furthermore, he expanded vaccinations to diseases such as rabies and anthrax, earning him the title “father of bacteriology.”

“Pasteur’s country,” France, had surpassed 3.39 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of the 16th, and despite several lockdown measures, the spread has not been curbed. Moreover, the number of vaccinated individuals since the beginning of the year is only 2.8 per 100 people, which is extremely low compared to 19.7 in the UK and 13 in the US. The strong vaccine hesitancy in France stems from ministers’ confident assertions last February that the coronavirus would not land in France and masks were unnecessary, which led to a loss of trust in policy.

Vaccinations are said to be starting soon in Korea as well. Until now, our K-quarantine has achieved many successes. However, while the global number of vaccinated people has reached 130 million, the fact that domestic vaccinations are still in the early stages acts as a source of anxiety. Furthermore, issues regarding supply and safety are very sensitive, but premature announcements of vaccine introduction do not help build trust in vaccines. It is now time to focus on enhancing the credibility of policies to re-recognize the fear of infectious diseases and to encourage rapid vaccination.

Kim Young-woo, Research Fellow, Institute for Shared Growth

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.