Mapping trends and hotspots in research on global influenza vaccine hesitancy: A bibliometric analysis

Zhengyu Zhang; Songjia Tang; Zhihui Huang; Juntao Tan; Xiaoxin Wu; Qian Hong; Yuan Yuan

doi:10.1002/hsr2.1820

Mapping trends and hotspots in research on global influenza vaccine hesitancy: A bibliometric analysis

Health Sci Rep. 2024 Feb 6;7(2):e1820. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.1820. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Authors

Zhengyu Zhang¹, Songjia Tang², Zhihui Huang³, Juntao Tan⁴, Xiaoxin Wu⁵, Qian Hong⁶, Yuan Yuan⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Records, The First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou China.
² Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, Affiliated Hangzhou First People's Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou Zhejiang China.
³ Department of Respiratory People's Hospital of Anji, Anji County Huzhou Zhejiang China.
⁴ Operation Management Office Affiliated Banan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University Chongqing China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou Zhejiang China.
⁶ Department of Medical Records The First Hospital of Lanzhou University Lanzhou China.
⁷ Department of Medical Records Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University Chongqing China.

Abstract

Background and aims: Influenza is one of the most widespread respiratory infections and poses a huge burden on health care worldwide. Vaccination is key to preventing and controlling influenza. Influenza vaccine hesitancy is an important reason for the low vaccination rate. In 2019, Vaccine hesitancy was identified as one of the top 10 threats to global health by the World Health Organization. However, there remains a glaring scarcity of bibliometric research in that regard. This study sought to identify research hotspots and future development trends on influenza vaccine hesitation and provide a new perspective and reference for future research.

Methods: We retrieved publications on global influenza vaccine hesitancy from the Web of Science Core Collection database, Scopus, and PubMed databases from inception to 2022. This study used VOSviewer and CiteSpace for visualization analysis.

Results: Influenza vaccine hesitancy-related publications increased rapidly from 2012 and peaked in 2022. One hundred and nine countries contributed to influenza vaccine hesitation research, and the United States ranked first with 541 articles and 7161 citations. Vaccines-Basel was the journal with the largest number of published studies on influenza vaccine hesitations. MacDonald was the most frequently cited author. The most popular research topics on influenza vaccine hesitancy were (1) determinants of influenza vaccination in specific populations, such as healthcare workers, children, pregnant women, and so on; (2) influenza and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: The trend in the number of annual publications related to influenza vaccine hesitancy indicating the COVID-19 pandemic will prompt researchers to increase their attention to influenza vaccine hesitancy. With healthcare workers as the key, reducing vaccine hesitancy and improving vaccine acceptance in high-risk groups will be the research direction in the next few years.

Keywords: bibliometric; data visualization; influenza; vaccine hesitancy.