Beyond the “single story” of vaccine hesitancy: “studying up” a public health response to vaccine-associated polio in South Africa

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy is a widely noted challenge in the struggle against communicable diseases. This was clearly demonstrated in the Covid-19 vaccine drives in South Africa and the world over. While social responses to vaccines are well documented, the literature tells the story of vaccine hesitancy through a singular focus on individuals who, motivated by various reasons, oppose a public health intervention. Such a one-sided exploration perpetuates the “single story” of vaccine hesitancy and overlooks the role of other actors and processes that may have an influence on how people perceive vaccines. My research looks beyond this “single story” of vaccine hesitancy by adding the dimension of an ethnographic exploration of a wide range of public health professionals — epidemiologists, virologist, pathologists, nurses and registrars — who are tasked with safeguarding the population in Gauteng province against the spread of communicable diseases.