11 Mar 2025
Evaluating how the public feels about novel vaccine delivery methods
Research paper validates tool to assess public attitudes to alternatives to traditional methods such as nasal sprays, microneedle patches and oral vaccines
Vaccine hesitancy is a major issue. Fear of needles can discourage some people from getting vaccinated. To address this, alternative, less invasive methods like nasal sprays, microneedle patches, or the application of ultrasound mediated cavitation, are being developed.
By understanding public attitudes towards vaccination, scientists can continue to design better ways to deliver vaccines that people are more likely to accept. Previous work has shown that removing fear of needles is the easiest and most effective way to remove vaccine hesitancy1,2,3. However until now there has been no standard way to assess public attitudes toward the new alternative vaccine technologies. Now a group of University of Oxford researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, the Oxford Vaccine Group and the Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies (Faculty of Law), has published a paper reporting a new scale to measure how the public feels about different vaccine delivery methods.
The researchers created and tested a new tool called the Oxford Benchmark Scale for Rating Vaccine Technologies (OBSRVT). This scale could help scientists, healthcare providers, and policymakers understand how people feel about new vaccine delivery methods. As well as increasing vaccination rates and directing resources to the best methods, alternative vaccine delivery technologies could make vaccines easier to distribute, reduce costs, and eliminate logistical challenges like cold storage.
Lead author Dr Jonathan Kantor, Associate Professor of Medicine and member of the Oxford Vaccine Group and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, says, “with vaccine hesitancy representing one of the top 10 threats to global public health, removing the needle fear barrier may be a critical step - and our work will hopefully be helpful in de-risking and developing needle-free technologies now and in the future”. The other researchers include Prof Robert Carlisle, Prof Samantha Vanderslott, Dr Michael Morrison, and Prof Sir Andrew Pollard.
The researchers surveyed just over 1,000 demographically representative people from the UK and the US, using a statistical method to identify four key factors that influence people's attitudes: acceptance, effectiveness, comfort, and convenience. They tested the scale’s accuracy and reliability using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which showed that the OBSRVT scale is a useful and reliable tool that can be used for future research on public attitudes towards vaccines.
The survey results show that people generally prefer alternative vaccine delivery methods over traditional ones like needles. However concerns over the effectiveness of vaccines delivered by newer methods are still a major issue, with people worrying whether they provide the same level of protection as traditional delivery.
The study provides a new way to measure trust in medical innovations, which could be crucial for future pandemics and vaccination efforts. The OBSRVT scale can also help governments and scientists understand which vaccine delivery methods the public will accept. The tool has a potential role in shaping the future of vaccine distribution by ensuring that new methods align with public preferences.
The paper, Development and validation of the Oxford Benchmark Scale for Rating Vaccine Technologies (OBSRVT), a scale for assessing public attitudes to next-generation vaccine delivery technologies is available here
- Kantor J, Carlisle RC, Morrison M, Pollard AJ, Vanderslott S. Oxford Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (OVHS): a UK-based and US-based online mixed-methods psychometric development and validation study of an instrument to assess vaccine hesitancy. BMJ Open. 2024 Oct 9;14(10):e084669. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084669. PMID: 39384231; PMCID: PMC11474876.
- Kantor J, Vanderslott S, Morrison M, Pollard AJ, Carlisle RC. The Oxford Needle Experience (ONE) scale: a UK-based and US-based online mixed-methods psychometric development and validation study of an instrument to assess needle fear, attitudes and expectations in the general public. BMJ Open. 2023;13(12):e074466.
- Freeman D, Lambe S, Yu LM, Freeman J, Chadwick A, Vaccari C, Waite F, Rosebrock L, Petit A, Vanderslott S, Lewandowsky S, Larkin M, Innocenti S, McShane H, Pollard AJ, Loe BS. Injection fears and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Psychol Med. 2023 Mar;53(4):1185-1195. doi: 10.1017/S0033291721002609. Epub 2021 Jun 11. PMID: 34112276; PMCID: PMC8220023.
