Publications Public Health in the Age of Anxiety: Religious and Cultural Roots of Vaccine Hesitancy in Canada

A book (University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division © 2017) published with a financial support of the QPHRN. Congratulations to the authors and editors, Paul Bramadat, Maryse Guay (QPHRN member), Julie A. Bettinger and Réal Roy!

Authors' abstract:

Public Health in the Age of Anxiety enhances both the public and scholarly understanding of the motivations behind vaccine hesitancy in Canada. The volume brings into conversation people working within such fields as philosophy, medicine, epidemiology, history, nursing, anthropology, public policy, and religious studies. Rather than an acrimonious debate between advocates and hesitant patients the contributors critically analyze issues surrounding vaccine safety, the arguments against vaccines, the scale of anti-vaccination sentiment, public dissemination of medical research, and the effect of private beliefs on individual decision-making and public health. These essays model and encourage the type of productive engagement that is necessary to clarify the value of vaccines and reduce the tension between pro and anti-vaccination groups.