Adverse Events: Vaccines and the Media

Going Viral - The Podcast

Going Viral brings you a special episode about the role of the media in the growth of vaccine hesitancy, recorded live at City University of London on 26th June 2019. @CityUniLondon.

In the last 18 months, Europe and the US have seen an upsurge in measles cases seemingly fuelled by growing distrust of the Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccine.

Many media commentators blame the measles outbreaks on the activities of anti-vaxxers – in particular, misleading information about MMR and other vaccines that circulate on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

But are anti-vaxxers really to blame for the upsurge in measles cases? Or is it all a bit of a moral panic manufactured by the press? And what about the rare cases where a vaccine is associated with an adverse event? How should journalists report genuine concerns about the safety and efficacy of vaccines without giving a platform to anti-vaxxers?

Presented by Mark Honigsbaum, @honigsbaum

Guest speakers:

Fiona Fox, the Chief Executive of the Science Media Centre in London, @SMC_London.

Dr. David Robert Grimes, Trinity College, Dublin, @drg1985.

Jo Yarwood, Immunisation Manager at Public Health England, @PHE_uk.

Emilie Karafillakis, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Vaccine Confidence Project, @EKarafillakis.

Produced by Melissa FitzGerald, @Melissafitzg

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