ABSTRACT:
Background- Brazil faces challenges in recovering high vaccination coverage, reopening the risk of reintroducing eradicated or controlled diseases. This study situates vaccine hesitancy as a collective health problem linked to communication, mapping the discourses that permeate hesitant individuals based on interviews that prioritize qualified listening. The objective is to understand vaccine hesitancy and its articulation with anti-vaccine discourses, analyzing how subjects appropriate, reproduce, shift, or transform these discourses, which circulate primarily on digital platforms. Methods- Discursive interviews with spontaneous narrative stimulation were conducted with residents of municipalities in the Zona da Mata region (Minas Gerais, Brazil) who demonstrate vaccine hesitancy regarding the National Immunization Program (PNI) vaccines. The interviews were analyzed based on French-Brazilian Discourse Analysis (1,2,3), which is suitable for investigating the produced and circulating meanings regarding vaccination. Ethics Committee Approval (UFJF): CAAE 83089724.6.0000.5147. Results- Despite a consolidated discursive memory regarding the importance of vaccines, interviewees are confronted with diverse meanings that escape generalizations and relate to the determinants of vaccine hesitancy proposed by the WHO. The analysis revealed meanings that guide hesitancy and its connections with misinformation, aligning with the 3 Cs model (complacency, convenience, and confidence)(3,4). It was observed how anti-vaccine discourses - circulating especially in the digital environment - resonate, reframe, or deny meanings, affiliating subjects with vaccine hesitancy. Conclusion- Mapping the discourses that permeate individuals in vaccine hesitancy contributes to rethinking communication practices, considering the meanings that sustain resistance to adhering to the National Immunization Program schedule. It is concluded that PNI promotion actions must consider the constitution, formulation, and circulation of these meanings to strengthen bonds and regain widespread and sustained public adherence.