Examining the Debate: Parental Concerns About Childhood Vaccination

In Albania, vaccine hesitancy grows amid misinformation surge

Albania is experiencing a concerning rise in parental reluctance to vaccinate children, a trend fueled by widespread misinformation and eroding trust in health authorities. This phenomenon has intensified following the COVID-19 pandemic, with serious public health implications now emerging across the country.

“Until the children were preschoolers, I hadn’t given them any vaccines,” said Mira, a mother of twins who enrolled them in kindergarten for the first time in 2025. Speaking to Media Amfora on condition of partial anonymity, she explained her decision stemmed from fears about autism, influenced by family experiences and social media content.

“My sister’s daughter developed normally until she was two years old, but then she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and that scared me a lot. At the same time, every day I read news and comments on social media that linked autism to vaccines,” she added.

This growing hesitancy is already having measurable public health impacts. The Institute of Public Health reported 11 confirmed measles cases in Tirana and Durrës in January 2024, primarily among unvaccinated children. By 2025, that number had increased to 18 cases, reflecting declining vaccination coverage rates across the country.

Healthcare providers are increasingly confronting this challenge in daily practice. “I’m surprised that there are cases of parents who come to me and ask me hesitantly whether or not they should vaccinate their child, for fear that they might cause autism,” pediatrician Vladimir Kumaraku told Media Amfora.

According to Dr. Kumaraku, the problem isn’t a lack of information but rather an overload of inaccurate information. “Today, parents do not come without information; on the contrary, they come overloaded with wrong information,” he explained. “This makes them more insecure and more afraid, because each source claims to have its own truth.”

The vaccine hesitancy phenomenon extends beyond medical settings into religious communities, where families often seek guidance amid conflicting information. Ervin Qylafku, Imam of the Great Mosque in Durrës, has observed this trend firsthand among his congregation.

“We have encountered cases among believers who have shown reluctance to receive vaccination doses, especially the one-year and two-year ones, because they have observed cases of autism symptoms among close friends and attribute these problems to receiving the vaccine,” Qylafku said.

He attributes this situation to a problematic information landscape. “Today we have a flow of information that is sometimes confirmed and sometimes unconfirmed. In addition to official institutions such as the World Health Organization, other unofficial authorities are also circulating that make statements, and this clash of voices makes many people ambivalent about making decisions for their children.”

Medical experts point to the temporal coincidence between standard vaccination schedules and when autism spectrum disorders typically become observable as a key factor in these misconceptions. “If there were a real link between vaccination and autism, then we would be faced with a massive spread, just like in the case of infectious diseases,” Dr. Kumaraku explained. “There is no scientific data to support this claim.”

For Mira, the kindergarten enrollment process forced a reckoning with her vaccination decisions. School registration requirements mandating vaccination records compelled her to revisit her stance. “When I listened to the pediatrician and realized that my fears were not based on facts, I decided to get the vaccines,” she said. “I closed all social media, both mine and my husband’s, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to cope with the situation.”

Imam Qylafku describes the current climate as characterized by “an extraordinary amount of misinformation,” making it increasingly difficult for parents to distinguish between reliable medical guidance and unfounded claims. “For this reason, we are divided as a society, because everything that surrounds us seems contaminated, starting from food, the environment and to the news that circulates in the media.”

He emphasizes that addressing the issue requires collaboration between medical and religious communities. “The role of the doctor is very important, because it is not just a profession, but a mission. Doctors and faith must be together to help people get out of the quagmire of misinformation,” he concluded.

As Albania grapples with this growing public health challenge, the situation highlights how misinformation ecosystems can transform online content into consequential health decisions with broader societal impacts. Building trust in accurate health information now stands as one of the most critical public health priorities in the country.