This Podcast explores the power of trust between communities who are hesitant towards vaccines, and the public health community who are delivering immunisation. Dr Heidi Larson gives an in-depth analysis of the pitfalls and challenges in tackling this issue.

This is an extract from a full podcast Vaccine Hesitancy and Engagement with Dr Heidi Larson [30 minutes]

Dr Larson is an anthropologist and Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project (VCP); Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, LSHTM; Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Global Health, University of Washington; and Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security Fellow. Dr Larson previously headed Global Immunisation Communication at UNICEF, chaired GAVI’s Advocacy Task Force, and served on the WHO SAGE Working Group on vaccine hesitancy. The VCP is a WHO Centre of Excellence addressing vaccine hesitancy.

Dr Larson’s research focuses on the analysis of social and political factors that can affect the uptake of health interventions and influence policies. Her particular interests lie in risk and rumour management, from clinical trials to delivery, and in building public trust.  She served on the FDA Medical Countermeasure (MCM) Emergency Communication Expert Working Group, and is Principle Investigator of the EU-funded (EBODAC) project on the deployment, acceptance, and compliance of an Ebola vaccine trial in Sierra Leone. 

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