Need for strategic communications and stakeholder engagement to advance acceptability of an overdose preventing vaccine targeting fentanyl

• Published in: Vaccine 2024-10, Vol.42 (24), p.126082-126082, Article 126082
• Main Authors: Weitzman, Elissa R, Pierce, Sydney E., Blakemore, Laura M., Murdock, Andrew, Angelidou, Asimenia, Dowling, David J., Levy, Ofer, Levy, Sharon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptability; Addictions; Addictive behaviors; Adolescents; Antibodies; Attitudes; Brain research; Cervical cancer; Communications; Data collection; Drug abuse; Drug addiction; Drug overdose; Drug use; Families & family life; Fentanyl; Harm reduction; Health behavior; Hospitals; Human papillomavirus; Immune system; Interviews; Messaging; Narcotics; Nervous system; Opioid Overdose; Opioids; Overdose; Peer tutoring; Precision vaccines; Public health; Qualitative analysis; Qualitative research; Regulatory approval; Substance use; Substance use disorder; Vaccine acceptability; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccines; Young adults
• ISSN: 0264-410X; 1873-2518; 1873-2518
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.06.049

[Display omitted] •A vaccine that will prevent overdose from fentanyl is in pre-clinical development.•Addiction is seen as a brain disease, spiritual failing, or structural problem.•Acceptance of a fentanyl vaccine is influenced by the model of addiction one holds.•Vaccine implementation that aligns with existing models may increase uptake.•Considering community needs for vaccine education and messaging is essential. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, exposure to which has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths. Novel vaccines are being developed that might protect against fentanyl overdose. Proactive attention to strategic communications and stakeholder engagement may smooth uptake of a novel vaccine given known challenges around vaccine hesitancy and concern for stigma related to substance use. Qualitative interviews (N = 74) with a purposive sample of adolescents/young adults with opioid use disorder (OUD), family members of persons with OUD, experts in substance use treatment and harm reduction, and community members were conducted and thematically analyzed to discern attitudes toward a fentanyl vaccine, and directions for communications and engagement. Major themes reflected personal concerns for biomedical risk and system-level concerns for alignment and integration of an overdose preventing vaccine with prevailing beliefs about addiction and associated frameworks and philosophies for treatment and response. Acceptability and implementation of a novel fentanyl vaccine targeting overdose will need precision communications that address biomedical, moral/spiritual, and structural perspectives about the nature of addiction. Education about the purpose and limits of a fentanyl vaccine, partnerships with diverse stakeholders from throughout the opioid response ecosystem and interweaving of a vaccine strategy into comprehensive prevention and treatment are recommended.