Institutional Blind-spots: How Healthcare Institutions Inadvertently Foster Vaccine Hesitancy Among Healthcare Workers and What to do About it

This project proposes that some forms of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers are justified. While vaccines are overwhelmingly safe and effective, healthcare institutions often act in such a way that vaccine hesitancy is a reasonable response on the part of healthcare workers. In particular, risk/benefit calculations, justified distrust of institutional actors, and being excluded from voicing legitimate concerns are valid reasons for some healthcare workers to be vaccine hesitant. However, these sources of hesitancy are not inevitable and can be mitigated through health systems policy reform. By failing to address these blind-spots, institutional actors inadvertently strengthen vaccine hesitancy among certain groups. Moreover, these failures reinforce systemic inequalities in the healthcare workforce. As such, this project proposes a framework for identifying and addressing these blind-spots that act as barriers vaccine uptake. In doing so, it aims to strengthen healthcare capacity by increasing immunity among healthcare workers. In addition, it aims to contribute to creating a more just and trustworthy healthcare system.