Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away
 | |
| Author | Heidi Larson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Vaccines |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Publication date | 2020 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Pages | 200[1] |
| ISBN | 9780190077242 |
| OCLC | 1121083645 |
| 614.4/7 | |
| LC Class | RA638 .L37 2020 |
Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away (2020), published by Oxford University Press and written by the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Confidence Project, Heidi Larson, looks at what influences attitudes to vaccination. It was largely compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic and inspired by her feeling that the dialogue between scientists and the public regarding vaccines was becoming complex on a background of increasing online information.
Using historical examples, from 19th century protests against smallpox vaccination to 21st-century boycotts of polio vaccination programmes, to show how rumours about vaccinations spread, the book looks chiefly at high-income countries and examines the factors that form opinions about vaccination.
Publication
[edit]Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away was published by Oxford University Press in 2020, and written by the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Confidence Project, Heidi Larson.[2][3][4] It was largely compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][5] It has 200 pages,[1] of which 127 pages cover eight chapters, which are preceded by acknowledgements, prologue and an introduction, and are followed by notes and an index.[6]
Synopsis
[edit]The book addresses misinformation related to vaccination, and asks how vaccine rumors start and why they do not go away.[1][4] Looking chiefly at high-income countries, the book examines social, political, psychological and cultural factors that make up the various mind-sets to vaccination.[2] Larson also uses historical examples, from 19th century protests against smallpox vaccination to 21st-century boycotts of polio vaccination programmes, to show how rumours about vaccinations spread.[2] She writes: "Digital media has certainly contributed to the social amplification of risk, but there is no single culprit in this wave of dissent."[2]
Larson was inspired by her feeling that the dialogue between scientists and the public, regarding vaccines, was becoming complex, against a background of a proliferation of online information. However, there is "opportunity for change", if vaccine experts can engage using social media.[7]
The book concludes with a call to social media companies to take responsibility for the part their technology plays in disseminating information pertaining to vaccines, because "for vaccine uptake to increase, the public must be inspired to protect one another".[2]
Reception
[edit]Released during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Lancet stated that "at a time of increasing global uncertainty, Larson's values of respecting other people's views and engaging with them will be crucial".[7] With the challenges of misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines, Joan Donovan, writing in Nature, agreed with Larson's findings.[2] The book was also reviewed in the New Scientist.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Gellin, Bruce (1 August 2020). "Book Why vaccine rumours stick—and getting them unstuck" (PDF). The Lancet. 396. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31640-8. S2CID 220872330.
- ^ a b c d e f Donovan, Joan (22 July 2020). "Vaccines stop diseases safely — why all the suspicion?". Nature. 583 (7818): 680–681. Bibcode:2020Natur.583..680D. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02192-w.
- ^ Anderson, Jenny (13 October 2020). "She Hunts Viral Rumors About Real Viruses". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ a b Vaughan, Adam (21 November 2020). "How to stop vaccine hesitancy". New Scientist. 248 (3309): 12–13. Bibcode:2020NewSc.248...12V. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(20)32025-X. ISSN 0262-4079. PMC 7833418. PMID 33518972.
- ^ a b Hamzelou, Jessica (18 November 2020). "Vaccine misinformation can be fatal – how can we counter it?". New Scientist. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ Larson, Heidi (2020). Stuck: How Vaccine Rumors Start and Why They Don't Go Away. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190077242.
- ^ a b Das, Pamela (26 September 2020). "Heidi Larson: shifting the conversation about vaccine confidence". The Lancet. 396 (10255): 877. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31612-3. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 32919523.