5056.1 What can a commercial determinants of health lens bring to our understanding of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy?

Session: Health-Promoting Trade Policies and Practices

Program: Trade and Health Forum

Time: 9:00 - 9:15

Presenters:

Raquel Burgess

Yusuf Ransome

Abstract

Discussions about vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic have centered around dis/misinformation and controversy theories, perceptions of safety, and institutional distrust, particularly due to institutional racism in the health care system. A seemingly lesser explored aspect of COVID-19 vaccine hesitation is distrust of pharmaceutical companies.

In 2019, 58% of Americans reported a negative view of the pharmaceutical industry and in a poll conducted in December 2020, only 20% of Americans who reported that they will definitely not get the COVID-19 vaccine felt they could trust the pharmaceutical industry to provide reliable information about the vaccines. Previous research has demonstrated that some vaccine hesitant individuals ascribe their hesitancy to distrust of the pharmaceutical industry and that this distrust stems from the industry’s pursuit of profit over public interest, emphasized through previous scandals, and the influence of the industry over other health care actors.

The commercial determinants of health (CDH) is a concept that describes how actors and structures operate to generate profit, and by doing so, influence patterns of disease within and across populations. In this presentation, we will use a CDH lens to explore distrust in the pharmaceutical industry as a potential contributor to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Specifically, we will explore the concepts of trust and distrust and their antecedents, the history of trust in the pharmaceutical industry, and the profit-seeking structures that may be perpetuating distrust. Finally, we will discuss potential solutions for increasing the trustworthiness of the pharmaceutical industry as a potential mechanism to address vaccine hesitancy.