ESS data on the perception of vaccines in Italy. A way to understand literacy in health environments

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyse European Social Survey (ESS) Round 8 data with regards to the perception of vaccines in Italy in 2017, in connection with the confidence in the scientific community and trust in pharmaceutical companies.

Opinions and views of Italian people are further explored in terms of the perception of citizens’ own health; the appraisal of national health services, the evaluation of education system and economy and trust on political institutions within a comparative cross-country analysis.

It is to be recorded that in 2016 the debate on vaccination had started in Italy and the No Vax movement was very active, generating the spread of fake news and misinformation, together with hesitancy regarding vaccines.

In a context where health information assumes such a great importance and debates on vaccination have risen such a deep interest, it is relevant to understand if individuals are able to understand and manage with a sufficient level of literacy all provided information. The ESS is a valuable data set due to its high quality, but also for the variety of topics it deals with.