“Pandemic public health paradox”: time series analysis of the 2009/10 Influenza A/H1N1 epidemiology, media attention, risk perception and public reactions in 5 European countries
Open accessAbstract
In 2009, influenza A H1N1 caused the first pandemic of the 21st century. Although a vaccine against this influenza subtype was offered before or at the onset of the second epidemic wave that caused most of the fatal cases in Europe, vaccination rates for that season were lower than expected. We propose that the contradiction between high risk of infection and low use of available prevention measures represents a pandemic public health paradox. This research aims for a better understanding of this paradox by exploring the time-dependent interplay among changing influenza epidemiology, media attention, pandemic control measures, risk perception and public health behavior among five European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK). Findings suggest that asynchronicity between media curves and epidemiological curves may potentially explain the pandemic public health paradox; media attention for influenza A H1N1 in Europe declined long before the epidemic reached its peak, and public risk perceptions and behaviors may have followed media logic, rather than epidemiological logic.
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There is insufficient knowledge about how changing epidemiology, media attention, pandemic control measures, risk perception, and public health behaviour interact.
“At the same time, not enough is known about the complex interplay of changing epidemiology, media attention, pandemic control measures, risk perception, and public health behaviour.5”
From Monitoring behavioural insights related to COVID-19 (2020) · cites this paper as [5]
People's perceived risk is not necessarily aligned with their actual risk.
“but paradoxically, how people perceive risk is not necessarily correlated with the actual risk.”
From Monitoring behavioural insights related to COVID-19 (2020) · cites this paper as [5]
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- Authors
- Reintjes, R., Das, E., Klemm, C., Richardus, J. H., Keßler, V., & Ahmad, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Tampere (FI)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- HAW Hamburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Reintjes, Ralf
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2016-03-16
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e0151258
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4794201
- OpenAlex
- W2297886249
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 15.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Tampere University Institutional Repository (Tampere University) (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- RePub (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Tampere University Institutional Repository (Tampere University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission (2007–2013, 278763, FP7 2007-2013, FP7/2007)
- University of Glasgow
- Ministerio de Sanidad, Servicios Sociales e Igualdad
- Robert Koch Institut
- Instituto de Salud Carlos III
- Statens Serum Institut
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Influenza Virus Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Keywords
- 2009 H1N1 pandemic, media attention, risk perception, public health behavior, influenza vaccination rates, pandemic control measures, epidemic curve, European countries
- MeSH terms
- Europe, Humans, Influenza, Human, Influenza Vaccines, Mass Media, Public Opinion, Risk, Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype
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