Vaccine hesitancy is complex and context specific, varying across time, place and vaccines (MacDonald, 2015). Recently, misinformation on Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) vaccine safety and conflicting communications from experts and the media have generated concerns among the population for this reason TARAVH project aims to achieve the following objectives:

• The primary aim of this study is to measure the extents of the determinants of vaccine hesitancy with respect to COVID-19, considering at the same time all the 5 factors described in the 5C model, and declining them into sociological, psychological and health skills, with a public health perspective.

• Secondly, the study aimed at describing and validating a multidimensional and transdisciplinary model for vaccine hesitancy tailored on the Italian population.

• Finally, the project aims to provide insights and inspiration for interventions tailored to address vaccine hesitancy regarding COVID-19 (short-term effect) or other diseases (medium-term impact). In this perspective, the dissemination of the findings of our study to all the stakeholders - including the general population - has to be considered as the first step of promoting vaccination uptake and containing vaccine hesitancy.
  
  

The project is characterized by three intertwined layers of research activities:

• The first activity, which will last for the duration of the project, will involve first designing and implementing, then parameterizing and testing a web-based observatory to assess and monitor vaccine hesitancy in the (g)local population. This will be achieved through initial sociodemographic and psychological mapping of vaccine hesitancy risk and promotion factors within the communities that will join the project.

• The second layer will be devoted to the validation of an Italian version for the 5C test. 

• The third layer will be devoted to the research needed to understand and describe the role of public health communication in an era of skepticism and distrust. Following the EPPM - Extended Parallel Process Model for the design of effective health communication messages (Witte, Meyer & Martell, 2001; Coombs, 2020), we will investigate how health care institutions inform citizens about vaccination, starting from the experience of COVID-19. The organization through EPPM may provide insights into how public sector organizations, health institutions, and local governments can improve public health communication preparation, planning, and response, and how they can manage effective social campaigns targeting a hesitant population. Next, we will cross-reference the three layers of EPPM with the psychological dimensions revealed by the study in order to assess their effectiveness and impact on different target populations.

Relation of the project with the Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe themes and with the thematic priorities of PNR 2021-2027

The project deals with the Pillar II “Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness”, Cluster 1 “Health” of Horizon Europe. In particular, it deals with the main aim of the cluster, that is improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge and developing innovative solutions, with a focus of preventing diseases. Moreover, the project manifest complementarities with Cluster 2 “Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society” in understanding and countering radicalisation and extremism, in building societal resilience to disinformation and fake news, and in developing responses to crises. Within the thematic priorities of PNR 2021-27, the project relates to the macro-issue “Health” and according to the PNR’s recommendations, the proposal addresses specifically to the public sector health institutions.