International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | October 2021 | Vol 8 | Issue 10 Page 5133 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Suthanthira KS et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2021 Oct;8(10):5133-5136 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Review Article Social behavioral change communication - an approach to vaccine hesitancy Suthanthira Kannan S. 1 *, Swetha Rajeshwari 1 , Aarthy Ramasamy 2 INTRODUCTION The introduction of COVID-19 vaccine on 16 January 2021, a major step by Government of India towards reducing the spread and associated complications. 1 Since its introduction, it is the world’s largest vaccination drive. Hence it is imperative to have a clear, accurate, consistent strategic communication approach where community participation will be the centre point. 2 The strategy should also include measures to mitigate adverse events following immunization (AEFI) along with vaccine hesitancy during the vaccine roll out. A behaviour change communication (BCC) strategy in vaccination program should have theoretical base in planning and execution. This review explores the application of BCC in overcoming the vaccine hesitancy. These reviews will also benefit the health care workers, officers at policy level, communication experts, for successful roll out of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. Vaccine hesitancy as defined by World Health Organization (WHO) “a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccination services”. 3 While the proportion of a population needed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity has not yet been established, addressing COVID-19- related vaccine hesitancy is expected to lead to greater numbers of vaccinated individuals, in turn resulting in fewer COVID-19 cases, reduced infection transmission and fewer deaths. Given that vaccine hesitancy is highly variable and context-specific, the concerns of the patient must be established so that relevant reliable information and advice can be provided. BURDEN OF THE PROBLEM In 2019, the WHO listed vaccine hesitancy as one of top 10 threats to global health. Vaccine acceptance among the general public and healthcare workers appears to have a decisive role in the successful control of the pandemic. The aim of this review was to provide an up-to-date assessment of COVID-19 vaccination acceptance rates worldwide. A systematic search of the peer-reviewed English survey literature indexed in PubMed was done on 25 December 2020. Results from 31 peer-reviewed published studies met the inclusion criteria and formed the basis for the final ABSTRACT While the proportion of a population needed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity has not yet been established, addressing COVID-19-related vaccine hesitancy is expected to lead to greater numbers of vaccinated individuals, in turn resulting in fewer COVID-19 cases, reduced infection transmission and fewer deaths. Reasons for vaccine hesitancy are influenced by a spectrum of factors from individual belief system to external sources of information. We need to adopt a multi-pronged approach which involves socio demographic domains to achieve herd immunity. Keywords: COVID-19, Herd immunity, Vaccine hesitancy, Communication 1 Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Hyderabad, Telangana, India 2 Madras Diabetic Research Foundation, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Received: 18 August 2021 Accepted: 16 September 2021 *Correspondence: Dr. Suthanthira Kannan S., E-mail: gurudixitkannan@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20213824