Trustworthiness and Ethics in Vaccine Hesitancy: Mind the Gap.

We know that vaccine hesitancy is closely related to distrust in health organisations, pharmaceutical industry or governments (Vuolanto et al. 2024). At the end of the book, I am left with the question what is necessary to bridge the gap of distrust and how this relates to discussions on coercive measures. Intuitively, it seems necessary to understand the different types of distrust non-compliant parent groups have and Pierik and Verweij discuss these in Chapter 3 in order to offer tailored approaches to build trust. In Chapter 9, Pierik and Verweij discuss the lack of trust more specifically, but I question if their approach is well thought through: they are ambivalent on a so-called information deficit perspective on trust, which they reject and also seem to assume at the same time. I will first look at the various sources of distrust that Pierik and Verweij distinguish before I discuss their view on trust and trustworthiness.