Jasmine Chakravarty reports for STS NewsRoom. As of November 2021, more than 46.4 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the biggest mass-immunization programme the country has ever run. Most of us rushed to book our appointments as soon as we received a message, keen to protect ourselves from the virus. However, not everyone has been quite so confident in the vaccine. In this episode, Jasmine Chakravarty speaks to four UCL academics to learn more about vaccine hesitancy.
She wants to know:
- what it is
- which groups are hesitant and why
- how this hesitancy can best be engaged
Jasmine would like to thank her fantastic guests
- Professor Helen Bedford
- Dr Stephen Hughes
- Dr Katherine Woolf
- Professor Sarah Edwards
For more information on vaccine hesitancy visit:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/immunisation-vaccines/vaccine-hesitancy
For more advice on how to talk to those who are hesitant, see:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/08/16/1032001/how-to-talk-to-unvaccinated-people
To read Dr Katherine Woolf’s research paper ‘Dispel myths and build trust to combat vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority health workers’, follow the link:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776221001575?via%3Dihub
Find out more about vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups in the UK:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-vaccines-f-%20idUSKBN2A925Q
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n513
To learn more about the ‘COVID-19 Wellbeing Study’ with which Professor Sarah Edwards is involved, follow:
https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/1/e043418.long
For more information about UCL’s Master’s in Science Communication (MSc)
For more about STS Alchemy
Featuring
Interviewer and episode creator:
- Jasmine Chakravarty
UCL Class of 2021
Host:
- Professor Joe Cain
Professor in History and Philosophy of Biology
Music credits
- “Rollin At 5,” by Kevin McLeod
https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ - “Sweeter Vermouth,” by Kevin McLeod
https://filmmusic.io/song/4450-sweeter-vermouth
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Podcast information
“WeAreSTS” is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, and to leave feedback about the show, visit us online:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast
STS Students and staff also can find on the website information about how to get involved with our programme.
WeAreSTS producer is Professor Joe Cain.
Jasmine Chakravarty edited and produced the main segments of this episode.
The balance of editing and post-production by Professor Joe Cain.