Why vaccine misinformation sticks: the emotional roots of vaccine hesitancy

Vaccine hesitancy remains one of the World Health Organization’s top global health threats, and anti-vaccine narratives continue to be among the most enduring and prominent forms of medical misinformation. Historically and in more recent public rhetoric, misleading and unfounded claims questioning the necessity, efficacy, and safety of vaccines have shaped public perceptions of vaccination and placed those who develop and deliver vaccines under intense scrutiny. This is not a new phenomenon: resistance to vaccination has been documented for centuries, from opposition to smallpox inoculation in 19th-century Europe to early 20th-century debates over polio vaccines. Across these different contexts, public responses to vaccination have rarely been shaped by evidence alone.