Heidi Larson researches why people don’t want to be vaccinated. A conversation about why in some countries there are fewer people who refuse to vaccinate than in others and how you can sometimes convince them.
from
Andrian Kreye
It was during her work for one of the Unicef vaccination campaigns in Nigeria that the anthropologist Heidi Larson first experienced what it means when political groups agitate against a health program. Today she is the leading researcher in what she calls “Vaccine Reluctance,” vaccine reluctance. Whereby their work is usually about solid vaccination opposition. Since she became a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she has researched the subject not only in infected areas, but also in historical archives. Shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, she finished the manuscript of her book “Stuck” about misinformation and rumors about vaccinations. The new epidemic only made it into the preface. She not only researches, but also works actively with her “Vaccine Confidence Project” to overcome resistance to vaccination campaigns. The 64-year-old speaks from her home office in one of those pretty brick houses with a garden in north London, where she’s been spending most of her time since the outbreak of the epidemic.