Attributing public ignorance in vaccination narratives

Area of Science:

• Science Communication
• Development Studies
• Public Health

Background:

• Vaccination narratives often frame the public as 'ignorant' during outbreaks.
• This narrative is reinforced by governments and media, obscuring deeper issues like mistrust and anxiety.
• The 'ignorant public' framing simplifies complex public concerns about vaccines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the 'ignorant public' narrative in vaccination campaigns.
• To examine how this narrative impacts public trust and vaccine uptake.
• To critique the institutional use of this narrative and its consequences.

Main Methods:

• Ethnographic fieldwork in Sierra Leone, Uganda, and India.
• Media analysis of vaccination campaigns.
• Analysis conducted before, during, and after outbreaks for human and animal vaccines.

Main Results:

• The 'ignorant public' narrative reduces vaccine concerns to a lack of knowledge, masking mistrust and anxiety.
• This framing deflects attention from structural determinants of vaccine uptake.
• Examples from Sierra Leone, Uganda, and India illustrate the consequences of this narrative on vaccination encounters.

Conclusions:

• The 'ignorant public' narrative depoliticizes rumors and mistrust, obscuring competing interests and minority group treatment.
• It rationalizes public governance by labeling certain groups as ignorant, shifting accountability for low vaccine uptake onto the public.
• Institutions focusing on public ignorance overlook other critical factors influencing vaccine hesitancy.