A lab technician sorts blood samples inside a lab for a COVID-19 vaccine study at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Fla., on Aug. 13, 2020.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
People who oppose vaccines often are dismissed as ignorant or naive. Failing to hear their concerns and address them may only be fueling vaccine resistance, however.
Experts from across The Conversation look at how COVID-19 vaccines will work, how they’re being tested and manufactured, and what challenges there will be to rolling them out.
An 1801 etching of a dandified physician taking a lancet to a ‘dindonnade,’ a word signifying both ‘turkey’ and ‘hoax.’ It ridicules the smallpox vaccine, which takes fluid from an animal to insert into a human.
(Wellcome Collection)
The history of anti-vaccination theories can help us understand how such claims capture a popular following. The same misinformation used against 19th century smallpox vaccine is still in use today.
Those opposing vaccinations often mistrust government, science and the news media. There may be better ways to persuade them than by offering facts only.
Whether in situations relating to scientific consensus, economic history or current political events, denialism has its roots in what psychologists call ‘motivated reasoning.’
The Cow-Pock - or the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation! (1802) by James Gillray.
wikipedia
The smallpox vaccination used calf lymph, which was unacceptable to vegetarians and anti-vivisectionists who were growing in number from the mid 19th century.
Conspiracy theories about COVID-19 abound.
EPA-EFE / Neil Hall
Do recent lockdown protests indicate that Australia is on the path to Trump’s America? While we can currently rest easy, the problem requires careful consideration.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said that a vaccine could be available as early as January 2021.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon/File
As most of the world early awaits a vaccine for COVID-19, a smaller group of people scoffs. They could spell real trouble in the effort to build widespread immunity.
President Donald Trump and his supporters exhibit the methods of science deniers. Like anti-evolutionists and flat-earthers, they reject what they don’t want to believe and accept what they favor.
Kim Whitley holds her granddaughter Kole, 3, as she joins other opponents of the recently passed legislation to tighten the rules on giving exemptions for vaccinations In a demonstration in front of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Capitol office in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 9, 2019.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
California has limited medical exemptions for vaccinating children. A new law places final authority with the state public health department, but does that shift the balance of power?
At least half of parents of young children report having encountered negative messages about vaccines on social media.
Alexander Dummer/Unsplash