Populist politics and vaccine hesitancy in Western Europe: an analysis of national-level data

Vaccine hesitancy and political populism are driven by similar dynamics: a profound distrust in elites and experts. It is necessary for public health scholars and actors to work to build trust with parents that are reluctant to vaccinate their children, but there are limits to this strategy. The more general popular distrust of elites and experts which informs vaccine hesitancy will be difficult to resolve unless its underlying causes-the political disenfranchisement and economic marginalisation of large parts of the Western European population-are also addressed.