Experts believe that society needs to be prepared for the advent of a HIV vaccine

Given the recent experience of a worldwide vaccination programme, and our understanding of HIV-related stigma, experts believe that societal adoption of a HIV vaccine will not be easy.

The first trials of a series of mRNA-based HIV vaccines in humans began in early 2022. Epidemiologists and virologists alike are hoping that these trials are successful and will lead to a producible HIV vaccine within the next few years. But at what point do we start to involve behavioural scientists?

During the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve seen plenty of people who’ve been either afraid to, or refuse to, get vaccinated. This is often called “vaccine hesitancy” or “vaccine indecisiveness”. These stances often arise from distrust in the vaccine, the company producing them or even the government. Experts say that these problems should be worked on as the vaccines are developed - instead of waiting until they’re ready to be deployed.

Stigma can also be a powerful deterrent when it comes to preventative healthcare. Look at PrEP which, whilst highly effective at preventing HIV acquisition, meets resistance and a lack of uptake due to the stigma attached to being considered a “person at risk”.

Any HIV vaccine will have to overcome a number of barriers if widespread adoption is to happen.

Barrier of trust

People may be skeptical about the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. To overcome this hurdle it will be necessary to involve health authorities, local communities, and religious leaders to overcome the inevitable misinformation about the vaccine.

Societal approval

Adopting a HIV vaccine will not only require “orders from above”, but also public approval to overcome barriers related to stigma and embarrassment. The more people who get vaccinated, the lower the perceived “social risk”.

Coordination challenges

In order for the introduction of any vaccine to be successful, it is necessary to vaccinate as many people as possible at the same time. This relies on both high levels of production, but also buy in from all government, local health authorities and community groups.

Enthusiasm

Social recognition by others is crucial to building enthusiasm for any new product. It’s important that key stakeholders, such as people living with HIV, working in HIV, and taking PrEP are involved in the vaccine development and rollout - this way they can be its biggest supporters.

The media

Information and misinformation travel at the speed of light, and it’s not always possibly to easily discern which is which.

Here, behavioural science plays an important and complementary role in the development and implementation of vaccines. It will help us focus on the needs of specific communities where vaccine hesitance will be higher.

"Science is dynamic. With any vaccine, you can't wait for a full quantitative risk assessment before it becomes publicly available. Behavioral science tools can play an additional role in proactively understanding some gaps and actively eliminating them," said Professor Gagandeep Kang of the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory.