Resistance to Covid-19 Vaccination: Drivers, Impact on Human Wellbeing, and Policy Implications

This book presents advanced methodologies for analyzing attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine across 10 countries spanning both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, employing cutting-edge Big Data and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) techniques. Serving as an important resource for policymakers, it addresses attitudes towards and causes of growing vaccine hesitancy -a pressing concern identified by the World Health Organization as a top 10 global health threat. Moreover, the book sheds light on key factors associated with positive vaccine attitudes, aiming to bolster vaccine uptake rates. The authors explore the role of happiness in shaping health-related decision-making, offering actionable policy recommendations for governments. By sharing best-case practices, they equip policymakers and health officials worldwide with the necessary strategies to address future pandemics effectively.

Stephanie Rossouw is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of the School of Social Science and Humanities at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. Stephanie has fulfilled the role of editor of economics at the Journal of Happiness Studies since 2012 and oversees a team of seven associate editors. Stephanie is a Member of the World Wellbeing Panel, Vice-President of Finance for the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS), a member of the board of directors of ISQOLS, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg and a Research Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). She holds a PhD in Economics from the North-West University (South Africa). Stephanie specializes in well-being studies and is the co-creator of the Gross National Happiness.Today Project which spans 11 countries, including New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Stephanie played an instrumental role in Statistics New Zealand’s adoption of the GNH as an experimental measure of real-time subjective well-being in its COVID-19 data portal. In 2020 and 2024, Stephanie was invited to write ＂Big Data and Happiness＂ chapters for the Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics and the Encyclopedia on Happiness, Quality of Life and Subjective Well-being. Her research has appeared in journals such as PLOS ONE, Social Indicators Research, Applied Research in Quality of Life, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Oxford Development Studies, South African Journal of Economics, and New Zealand Economic Papers, among others.

Talita Greyling is a Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. She specializes in wellbeing economics and quality of life studies and has a keen interest in the applications of the fourth industrial revolution. She developed the initial ＂Happiness Index＂ using big data. Consequently, she partnered with Dr Stephanie Rossouw and established the Gross National Happiness.Today Project which continuously researches and develops well-being indices. The project received the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Innovation. Talita is the author of numerous articles in both multi-disciplinary and economic journals. Since 2020, she has been actively involved in COVID-19 research projects and has published on the topic. She has authored book chapters related to ＂Big Data and Happiness＂. She is the associate editor for Pioneers in Quality of Life Theory and Research of the Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life and a co-editor for Economics in the Journal of Happiness Studies. She is the Vice-President (Membership) and a member of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies board of directors. Furthermore, she is a member of the World Wellbeing Panel and a Research Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). Talita is involved in several international collaborations related to well-being research. Talita regularly participates in radio and television shows, has podcasts, and has a TEDx talk about wellbeing and 4IR.