Could understanding the history of anti-vaccine sentiment help us to overcome it?

Ever since Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine for smallpox there have been opportunistic people willing to spread misinformation. As the Covid-19 vaccines are administered, what’s the best way to counter them?

Sarah and her brother Benjamin (not their real names) have never seen eye to eye. She’s a professional scientist, he – according to Sarah’s description – is someone who is susceptible to conspiracy theories. They maintained an uneasy truce until a few weeks ago. Tensions came to a head when Sarah was on the phone to her mum, talking her through the online procedure to book a slot for her Covid-19 vaccination.

If she was still having trouble after they rang off, Sarah suggested, she could ask Benjamin to come over and help. Mother and son live close by and a long way from Sarah; they’ve shared a bubble this past year. “There was a silence,” Sarah says. “And then she replied that he didn’t want to. He’s against the vaccine. Well, that was it for me. You can’t help your 77-year-old mum do something that might save her life? I’m sorry, that’s wrong.”

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