[Societal impact of vaccination : beyond individual protection. Renewed interest following COVID-19 pandemic ?].

Vaccine hesitancy is growing worldwide and hampering efforts to control vaccine-preventable diseases. Healthcare professionals have a critical role in the acceptance of vaccination by patients. Increased awareness about the benefits of vaccination is one of the recommended strategy to counter vaccine hesitancy. Beyond protection of individuals against specific pathogens, vaccination have broad benefits at multiple levels of society, partly mediated by community protection. These benefits include improved access to education, increased productivity and positive fiscal impact, limitation of gender inequalities, control and prevention of antibiotic resistant pathogens. In this narrative review, those benefits are summarized and relevant studies reviewed. The broad benefits of immunization should contribute to better communication about the impact of immunization and could be part of educational programs of future health-care workers. The COVID-19 pandemic has a tremendous socio-economic impact and is the illustration of a world without vaccine. Nevertheless, recent surveys indicate that the acceptance of a future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will not be universal, illustrating the importance of communication centered on safety and tolerability of future vaccines.