- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 The MMR controversy
- 2 Background to the controversy
- 3 Risk perception
- 4 Single vaccines – the middle way?
- 5 MMR and the media
- 6 Everyone's interests
- 7 Concluding remarks
- 8 Reading 1: The Lancet Paper
- 9 Reading 2: Communication and miscommunication of risk: understanding UK parents' attitudes to combined MMR vaccination
- 10 Reading 3: Towards a better map: Science, the public and the media
- 10.1 Media coverage of the MMR controversy
- 10.2 Media coverage of cloning and genetic medical research
- 10.3 The media and the public understanding of science
- 10.4 Trust
- 10.5 Overall levels of scientific understanding
- 10.6 What did we learn from media coverage between April and October?
- 10.7 The media and public understanding of climate change
- 10.8 The media and public understanding of the MMR controversy
- 10.9 The media and public understanding of cloning and genetic medical research
- 10.10 Conclusions
- 11 Reading 4: The lessons of MMR
- References
- Acknowledgements
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The MMR vaccine: Public health, private fears
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A decade ago, the possibility of a link between the MMR vaccine...
A decade ago, the possibility of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism hit the media. Fear of the vaccine spread rapidly and, despite an almost unanimous consensus that the claim was unfounded, still persists today. In this unit, we’ll examine why this controversy took on such a life of its own and why parents still agonise about the vaccine.
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
- understand more of the scientific factors that relate to the dispute about the safety of the MMR vaccine in the UK;
- assess the strength of arguments for and against the use of the MMR vaccine;
- show how issues of risk, trust, communication and media representation of science and medicine have a strong bearing on public perception of the MMR vaccine;
- explain why there is such a strong consensus amongst the medical profession testifying to the safety of the MMR vaccine.
- Duration: 20 hours
- Published on: Thursday 24th March 2011
- Level: Advanced
- Posted under: Health Sciences
The MMR vaccine: Public health, private fears
Introduction
The MMR dispute is of enormous public significance and this unit helps unravel why this has been an area of such dispute.
This unit is from our archive and it is an adapted extract from Science and the public S802 which is no longer in presentation. If you wish to study formally at The Open University, you may wish to explore the courses we offer in this curriculum area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Archive content
This is an extract from an Open University course which is no longer available to new students. If you found this interesting you could explore more free Health Sciences course units or view the range of currently available OU Health Sciences courses.
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