Giving Compass' Take:

• Belinda Archibong and Francis Annan share how unethical and dangerous vaccine testing shapes communities' perception of vaccine safety for years to come. 

• What role can donors play in earning the trust of impacted communities in order to increase vaccine compliance? 

• Learn about global COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. 

In 1996, following an epidemic, Pfizer tested a new drug on 200 children in Muslim Nigeria. Eleven children died while others were disabled. We study the effects of negative news on vaccine compliance using evidence from the disclosure of deaths of Muslim children in the Pfizer trials in 2000. Muslim mothers reduced routine vaccination of children born after the 2000 disclosure. The effect was stronger for educated mothers and mothers residing in minority-Muslim neighborhoods. The disclosure did not affect other health-seeking behavior of mothers. The results illustrate the potential spillover effects of perceived medical malpractice on future vaccine hesitancy.

The 1996 Pfizer epidemic drug trials remain a point of tension and source of vaccine hesitancy for Muslims in Nigeria, more than a decade after the initial news disclosure in 2000, with the specter of the trials evoked with every new mass vaccination campaign. Our results show significant reductions in routine vaccination of children born to Muslim mothers after the disclosure of the trials in 2000. The effects are driven by educated mothers and mothers living in Muslim minority neighborhoods with relatively lower trust/weaker ties to their neighborhoods/local communities and relatively stronger ties to religious networks. The reduction effect is specific to child vaccination outcomes with generally no reductions in Muslim mother’s prenatal care behavior and other child health outcomes.

A growing body of research has highlighted the importance of public trust for the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns aimed at curbing the spread of disease during epidemics. Our results show that local trust networks can be key drivers of vaccine hesitancy, especially among minority populations within regions with potentially stronger own-group cleavage; hence, policymakers aiming to increase vaccination in the aftermath of epidemics must work to build and leverage trust within these local networks to enhance vaccine uptake.