The Past and Future of Vaccine Hesitancy
Vaccine Hesitancy: The History of an Idea
Date and time
Monday 20 January 2025, 4pm - 5.30pm
Venue
Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, OX2 6SE
Abstract
The vaccine hesitancy concept has been used in technical and policy circles over the last decade to explain challenges with vaccine uptake, with the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring vaccine hesitancy a top ten threat to human health in 2019. However, the concept has also been controversial. Even some experts most closely associated with the term argue that it has been inappropriately used to blame individuals for systemic failures, especially during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. This paper traces the emergence of the concept of vaccine hesitancy, drawing on in-depth interviews with global experts and analysis of documents and publications from a WHO working group that developed the concept between 2012 and 2014. Our analysis highlights several key dynamics that help to explain how the idea of vaccine hesitancy has developed and circulated amongst technical experts, academic researchers, policymakers, the media, and the public.
No booking required.
Programme
4.00pm - 4.45pm: Katie Attwell, Vaccine Hesitancy: The History of an Idea
4.45pm - 4.55pm: Sally Frampton, History, University of Oxford: “Vaccine Hesitancy” and “Anti-vaxx”
4.55pm - 5.10pm: Isabela Cabrera Lalinde, Translational Health Sciences, Social Sciences, University of Oxford; Philippa Matthews, Francis Crick Institute and University College London
5.10pm - 5.30pm: General Discussion
All welcome.
Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology Seminar Series
