ABSTRACT
In North America and western Europe, there are small but significant numbers of people who harbour misgivings about the value and efficacy of vaccines. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, I reflect on the ‘religious’ and ‘cultural’ forms of ‘vaccine hesitancy.’ Although most coverage of these controversies is concerned with particular diseases, there is a great deal the advocates, sceptics, and rejectors involved in these noisy public debates can teach us about the ways boundaries between medical science, religion, and culture are made and policed.
