Session 14. Vaccine hesitancy in Europe

This session intends to provide a space for critically discussing the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy in Europe, both in relation to childhood vaccinations and to vaccinations against Covid-19. Although socio-political controversies on vaccines and immunisation have been documented since the 1890s, a recent wave of criticism has focused on childhood vaccinations, lowering the uptake of vaccines against many infectious diseases in most European countries. Moreover, during the pandemic a renewed criticism has appeared, widely questioning the production and experimentation of newly introduced Covid-19 vaccines. Vaccine hesitancy is a multifaceted phenomenon, which includes a set of different positions, along a continuum from full compliance to reluctance. Moreover, it is related to general issues like freedom of choice and civil rights, social responsibility, public health, cultural and religious beliefs, political agendas. In the context of vaccination policy controversies, we invite contributions, whether comparative or country-based, that privilege the following themes: 

     i) Healthcare professionals’ vaccine hesitancy discourses and practices;

     ii) Cultural and religious oppositions to vaccination; 

     iii) The role of the interaction between patients and healthcare professionals on attitudes towards                         vaccination; 

     iv) The impact of the public debate on vaccine hesitancy expression.

Jaroslava Hasmanová Marhánková is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Sociological Studies (Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Czech Republic). Her long-term research interest focuses on vaccine-hesitancy and anti-vaccination movements. She currently participates in the VAX-Trust (Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Europe) project funded by the EC H2020.

Luigi Gariglio is a Senior Assistant Professor at the University of Torino. His main research interests revolve around coercion and qualitative methods, particularly visual ones and autoethnography. He currently participates in the VAX-Trust (Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Europe) project funded by the EC H2020. 

Alice Scavarda is Research Fellow at the University of Torino, she is a board member of the Italian Sociological Association (Sociology of Health and Medicine) and one of the founders of the Graphic Medicine Italia association. Her research interests revolve around disability, mental health and arts-informed methods.