Scepticism and misinformation relating to vaccines is not new. The benefits of all our present routinely used vaccines outweigh any risks. In relatively recent times there has been a ‘war on science’ and, relating to this, is the present anti-vaccine movement. Today, social media is a major contributor to vaccine misinformation. A recent Gallup poll noted that public support for vaccines today is significantly lower than it was in 2001. Social scientists have presented the problem of the anti-vaccine movement quite well; but mechanisms for addressing it are far from clear.

Professor James Cherry, a distinguished research Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, speaks at this webinar, discussing a longer-term approach for physicians and other health care workers, to introduce epidemiological education in school as well as in college.

Our second invited speaker is Helen Bedford, Professor of Children’s Health Population, Policy and Practice Research and Teaching Department at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. In the UK, uptake of childhood vaccines is high overall but there is considerable variation between and within areas. In this presentation, Helen discusses factors affecting vaccine uptake including anti vaccine sentiment along with interventions to improve uptake. In particular, she addressed the issue of mandatory vaccination.

This webinar was chaired by Professor Rosalind Smyth, Director of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health.