9.H. Workshop: Mandatory vaccination policies: development, effectiveness, politics and consequences
Authors:   Organised by: University of Western Australia,   Chair persons: Katie Attwell - Australia, Katharina Theresa Paul - Austria
Published: October 2020

Australia, Italy, France, California, Germany and several US states have new mandatory vaccination regimes. Contemporary vaccine mandates include more vaccines, more consequences for non-vaccinators, more enforcement sites, and less exemptions. Policymakers and scholars alike face pressing questions regarding the development, effectiveness, politics and unintended consequences of new mandates. Dr Attwell, co-convenor, currently leads this nascent field in conceptual, theoretical and empirical work through a major Australian-government funded research project. She presents an overview of her work and methodologies in the workshop's Introduction.

By convening a session with top international scholars, we disseminate key research findings in a forum ideally suited for interaction between presenters and attendees, establishing a global research network to consider the questions outlined above. We forge and facilitate new collaborations with attending scholars and key actors in global vaccination policy to fill research gaps. We also give policymakers a clear sense of the global field, including what requires consideration when contemplating or designing vaccine mandates.

Initial inquiries indicate high levels of interest from individuals and organisations planning to attend the World Congress (or would attend to participate in our workshop). These include UNICEF and scholars from Europe, Australasia and North America, in addition to our multi-continental presenters. We will heavily promote the workshop within our extensive professional networks, as well as within WHO, the Vaccination Acceptance Research Network, the Fondation Merieux, and industry. We anticipate great interest from these organisations, most of which are familiar with our work.

The five presentations include empirical work at various stages of the policy cycle, and global overviews of mandatory policies. They will be presented back-to-back, followed by an extended audience Q&A and discussion moderated by co-convenor Dr Paul. Attwell and Rizzi consider policy development in Italy, exploring conflictual aspects of policy transfer, to foster understanding of the dynamics in multilevel states. Continuing the development focus, Deml considers the politics of mandates-crafting and the ambiguity emerging from imprecise language in Switzerland. Danchin picks up at the evaluative end of the policy cycle, considering whether Australia's mandatory policies have changed parents' behaviour. These three focused presentations are augmented by macro-level analyses. MacDonald analyses data from a WHO study, teasing out target groups, consequences and exemptions, and demonstrating patterns of global coverage. Vanderslott reviews 149 countries, drawing out the unintended consequence of developing countries using vaccine mandates when supply and access problems underpin sub-optimal coverage. The mix of macro and micro levels of analysis will allow the workshop to illuminate new areas for study.

Key messages

The mandatory vaccination workshop coheres an international field of scholars, disseminating knowledge and identify synergies and research gaps in an emerging area of public health governance. Attendees gain a ‘state of the art’ picture of mandatory vaccination policies globally, including significant issues to consider and impacts of these policies, which can guide policy development.