The Sociology of Vaccines

In this editorial, we identify the key questions requiring further exploration in the sociology of vaccines. In doing so, we discuss the socio-structural forces shaping views towards knowledge about and access to vaccination, trust in vaccines and regulators/decision makers, the associated problem of financial interests in vaccine development and regulation, and global vaccine inequalities. Across the breadth of these issues, we additionally identify a range of theoretical perspectives and conceptual directions that sociologists might utilise when producing innovative empirical, methodological and theoretical research on vaccination relating to risk and uncertainty, conflicts of interest, power and inequality.