ABSTRACT
This chapter frames the problem of vaccine hesitancy as a problem of public mistrust of scientific institutions and rejects the common thinking that vaccine hesitancy persists because members of the public misunderstand the science or endorse science denialism and/or anti-intellectualism. This rethinking of the supposed war on science and expertise, and how the war allegedly animates pediatric vaccine hesitancy and refusal, is informed by key themes from feminist philosophy of science about the nature and aims of science as well as unequal power relationships between experts and non-experts. These considerations resituate the problem in poor scientific governance rather than the moral and epistemic failings of the public. Vaccine outreach tends to focus on education interventions, but attention and resources need to be additionally directed toward building and maintaining public trust. Recommendations for how to build institutional trust are provided.
