Vaccination Research Group
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The mission of the Vaccination Research Group was to pioneer research on vaccination controversy and infectious disease in the humanities and social sciences. An interdisciplinary team composed of faculty, graduate and undergraduate researchers, the VRG had several goals, including providing frameworks for understanding the social and cultural contexts of vaccination controversy and introducing undergraduate and graduate researchers to team-based, collaborative research in these fields.
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- Andrew Wakefield and the MMR Vaccination ControversyKasik, Olivia (Virginia Tech, 2012-03)This information sheet seeks to explain Andrew Wakefieldʼs role in the MMR vaccination controversy and the reaction that followed from his 1998 publication in The Lancet.
- Anti-Vaccination MovementChapman, Jonathan (Virginia Tech, 2010-03-13)The current anti-vaccination movements that have established themselves in the United States as well as other regions in the world are like a hydra of discourse. Right when one effective measure is created to convince people to vaccinate two more anti-vaccination movements sprout up in its place. These anti-vaccination movements are driven by cultural beliefs, ideologies, medical exemption laws, non-medical exemption laws, distrust of the government, distrust of large pharmaceutical companies, denialism and so on. These antivaccination movements also have developed many methods of distributing their beliefs to the masses. The internet is a huge resource for these anti-vaccination movements and allows them, with relative ease, to get their anti-vaccination message out to a large number of people. Postcards, newspaper, magazines, journals, and pamphlets are other widely used resources for spreading antivaccination information to the general public. If the U.S. wants any chance of gaining the upper hand on this growing anti-vaccination movement in the 21st century it too must use the internet to create positive vaccination rhetoric that reaches the masses. This rhetoric must specifically focus its positive vaccination messages towards these specific anti-vaccination groups to pinpoint and alleviate their expressed concerns.
- Autism and the MMR Vaccine [annotated bibliography]Cobert, Lauren (Virginia Tech, 2010)
- The Autism Vaccine ScareCobert, Lauren (Virginia Tech, 2010)The main goal of vaccination is to stop the spread of communicable diseases. Maintaining a herd vaccination rate of ~90% is how WHO controls outbreaks of preventable infectious diseases. However, the autism vaccine scare of the late 1990s compromises herd immunity rates, as isolated outbreaks of measles, mumps and hepatitis occur as a result of a widespread vaccine boycott. This paper identifies key events and lay interpretations that develop during this awkward, unsure time.
- Cumberland Plateau Health District 2009-2010 Flu Season Vaccine Study: Final ReportMarmagas, Susan West; Dannenberg, Clare; Hausman, Bernice L.; Anthony, Elizabeth; Boyer, Stacy Bingham; Fortenberry, Lauren; Lawrence, Heidi (Virginia Tech, 2011-08-31)The Cumberland Plateau Health District of the Virginia Department of Health commissioned a team of faculty at Virginia Tech in 2011 to conduct a small pilot study of seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccination practices in Far Southwest Virginia. The study was conducted between February and July 2011. The purpose of the study was two-fold: Understand the reasons why two specific populations (parents of elementary school-aged children and 18-25 year olds) chose to vaccinate or not vaccinate for H1N1 and seasonal flu in 2009-10, and Identify the contributing factors (e.g. logistical barriers, intentional reasons, or parental disengagement) that led to a decision to either vaccinate or not vaccinate. The study was conducted in a small rural county with a significant portion of the population living below the poverty line. The area ranks low in Virginia for health outcomes with more than one quarter of residents reporting to be in poor or fair health in nationally tracked county health statistics. The study had three components: a survey of 86 family units in two elementary schools, indepth in-person follow-up interviews with nine families, and a survey of 158 18-25 year-olds in two educational institutions in the region.
- Disneyland Measles OutbreakPalladino, Erica (Virginia Tech, 2015-05)This media information sheet analyzes print and online coverage of the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak. The frameworks that the media used to report on the outbreak presented vaccination as the only viable option from preventing the spread of measles. Reporting also failed to mention that the 2015 Disneyland measles outbreak was smaller than U.S. measles outbreaks in 2013 and 2014.
- Diversity and Vaccine ControversyFrempong, Erica (Virginia Tech, 2010)My area of research dealt with many different aspects of the vaccine movement, the main three were: anti-vaccine sentiments over the Internet, global instances of anti-vaccination efforts, and differences in social class and race in vaccine utilization. I have come to realize that there are two distinct issues arising in the organization that encompasses vaccines. The distinctions are the anti-vaccine movement - the spread of anti-vaccine sentiments over the Internet, and global instances of anti-vaccination efforts, and limited vaccine resources and availability - socioeconomic and race discrepancies. I will focus my summary mainly on the anti-vaccine movement and briefly touch on the issue of vaccine availability.
- Global Antivaccination [annotated bibliography]Frempong, Erica (Virginia Tech, 2010-05)
- H1N1 and Seasonal Flu Vaccination: Interpreting the College Student SurveySoppet, Kelsey; Sozer, Aubrey; Trebach, Joshua (Virginia Tech, 2011)The Vaccination Research Group is interested in understanding the social and cultural contexts for this distrust and examining the themes and stories that are told in antivaccination narratives.
- Historical Vaccine Refusal [annotated bibliography]Smith, Carly (Virginia Tech, 2010-05-10)
- The HIV Vaccine: Barriers and BreakthroughsFoley, James (Virginia Tech, 2013-12)
- Human Papillomavirus and GardasilPatel, Elena; Ghebremichael, Mecal; Sutherland, Aimee (Virginia Tech, 2013-10)Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexual transmitted disease (STD), with 79 million Americans currently infected and 14 million new infections occurring annually... The pharmaceutical company Merck developed the Gardasil vaccine to protect individuals against four strains of HPV that cause genital warts and various cancers.
- Immuniza(on Recommenda(ons, Schedules, and Exemptions for Children Entering Kindergarten 2010Fuller, Jessica; Wallen, Andria (Virginia Tech, 2010)
- The Influence of Government and Media on Vaccination OpinionsSmith, Carly (Virginia Tech, 2010-05-10)Multitudes of vaccines have been produced since the introduction of the very first against smallpox. Some saw success while others were failures. No matter the vaccine, though, there are always those who resist for one reason or another. Through my research, I have found a couple common threads that link all vaccines in the way public opinion is influenced...
- Influenza Vaccine HistoryNesterova, Darya (Virginia Tech, 2012-10)This media information sheet provides a brief overview of the history of Influenza vaccine development and recommendations made over time concerning vaccine use.
- Media and the Public Perceptions of VaccinesTrebach, Joshua; Soppet, Kelsey; Sozer, Aubrey (Virginia Tech, 2011)People are exposed to the media’s influence from early on in life. Media here refers to all the types of technology that are used for mass communication (Internet, newspapers, radio, etc.) and those that control the technology. The primary media used to influence people concerning vaccination are public health publications, antivaccination websites, medically-related television shows, and Web 2.0 interfaces. We explored these media with respect to the public perceptions of vaccines and vaccination.
- Middle East Respiratory SyndromePeddireddy, Varsh (Virginia Tech, 2013-10)In 2012, a new coronavirus called, MERS-CoV emerged in Saudi Arabia. Coronavirus is the name for a group of viruses that have crown-like spikes on their surface. There are three main sub-groupings of coronaviruses, known as alpha, beta, and gamma, and a fourth provisionally assigned new group called delta coronaviruses.
- MMR Vaccination ControversyKasik, Olivia (Virginia Tech, 2012-04)This media analysis report seeks to examine the themes that the media uses to discuss the MMR vaccination controversy and their usefulness for understanding the issues.
- Pandemic InfluenzaNesterova, Darya (Virginia Tech, 2012-12)This media kit explores the reasoning behind the belief that an influenza pandemic is imminent.
- ‘Poisonous, Filthy, Loathsome, Damnable Stuff’: The Rhetorical Ecology of Vaccination ConcernHausman, Bernice L.; Ghebremichael, Mecal; Hayek, Philip; Mack, Erin (Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 2014)In this article, we analyze newspaper articles and advertisements mentioning vaccination from 1915 to 1922 and refer to historical studies of vaccination practices and attitudes in the early 20th century in order to assess historical continuities and discontinuities in vaccination concern. In the Progressive Era period, there were a number of themes or features that resonated with contemporary issues and circumstances: 1) fears of vaccine contamination; 2) distrust of medical professionals; 3) resistance to compulsory vaccination; and 4) the local nature of vaccination concern. Such observations help scholars and practitioners understand vaccine skepticism as longstanding, locally situated, and linked to the sociocultural contexts in which vaccination occurs and is mandated for particular segments of the population. A rhetorical approach offers a way to understand how discourses are engaged and mobilized for particular purposes in historical contexts. Historically situating vaccine hesitancy and addressing its articulation with a particular rhetorical ecology offers scholars and practitioners a robust understanding of vaccination concerns that can, and should, influence current approaches to vaccination skepticism.