“One of the greatest medical success stories:” Physicians and nurses’ small stories about vaccine knowledge and anxieties

Vaccines, polarising divides and the role of public health

“…A journey of seeking out answers might then ensue, with the developing dissenter taking an active role in their relationship to expert systems, rather than passive acceptance (Cunha & Durand, 2013). An easy dismissal of the vaccine hesitant and vaccine critical should also be troubled by findings that health professionals are not immune from having concerns about vaccinations, and may even avoid taking some (Manca, 2018). Epidemiologists themselves may express views that disturb the simple picture of eradication and the benefits of vaccine coverage, such as Professor Michael Baker, a member of the World Health Organization Regional Verification Commission for Measles Elimination, in response to a developing measles epidemic in New Zealand stating that 'The level of risk is affected a lot by when you were born and its one of the benefits of being over 50 years of age, we were all exposed to measles because the vaccine was only introduced in 1969' (Radio New Zealand broadcast, 20 March 2019).…”

Hopes, hesitancy and the risky business of vaccine development

“…Medical professionals do not necessarily uncritically or unequivocally believe in and advocate for what can be described as the culturally dominant vaccination narrative themselves (which describes how vaccination eradicated and controlled deadly diseases) (Heller, 2008). Indeed, Manca (2018) shows how professionals in Canada, despite also embracing their role in promoting vaccination, do hold certain anxieties especially around new vaccinations relating, for example, to the potentially problematic commercial influence of the pharmaceutical industry. This indicates that whilst trust in medical professionals is important in terms of patient and public attitudes towards and action associated with vaccination, professionals themselves are embedded in a lattice of (dis)trust that involves various actors including fellow professionals, health organisations and institutions and commercial forces.…”

An experimental investigation into the transmission of antivax attitudes using a fictional health controversy

“…Although doctors generally support vaccinations, they can also emphasize concerns about vaccine safety (e.g. Manca, 2018). The interaction between the prestige model-based bias with omission and negative content biases makes the negative messages about vaccines transmitted by these professionals especially likely to spread, influencing public opinion and vaccination coverage.…”