FACTSinnated Unity™ Consortium

Unity welcomes you back with a new episode on vaccine hesitancy. Unity intern Alex Garcia speaks with Heidi Larson, Ph.D about her experience working on vaccine confidence. 

Find more information on Heidi Larson's work with The Vaccine Confidence Project here: https://www.vaccineconfidence.org/ 

To pre-order the paperback version of her book, Stuck: How Vaccines Start -- and Why They Don't Go Away, click here: https://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Vaccine-Rumors-Start-They-dp-0197643388/dp/0197643388/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid= 

We discuss the events of the Tuskegee Syphilis study and the resulting impacts it has had on the Black community. Expert Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley joins the discussion and shares her insights on effective methods to combat hesitancy and distrust.

There is a lot of misinformation about vaccinations on the web, especially on sites like reddit. Kelly Danielpour started VaxTeen which is specifically aimed at advocating for teen’s rights when it comes to vaccine information. Kelly will talk about the importance of minor’s being immunized and what steps teen’s themselves can take to fight against vaccine misinformation.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc during 2020. However, there is hope as both Pfizer and Moderna begin to roll out their COVID-19 Vaccine. Dr. L.J Tan comes on the podcast to discuss how these vaccines were created and why they are safe and effective for all populations.

Measles was declared an eliminated disease in 2000. However, periodically there have been outbreaks within US school children as more and more parents are not vaccinating their kids, citing autism and brain damage concerns. Ethan Lindenberger will come on the podcast to talk about his own experience getting the Measles vaccine against his mother’s wishes.

There are some parents who do not believe their child should get the HPV vaccine. Their reasons differ, but as an example some parents object to vaccinating their 11 YO (recommended timing for vaccination) because HPV is spread through sexual contact and their child is not currently sexually active. We will discuss with an expert in the field, Dr. Paul Offit, reasons for vaccinating against HPV, following the recommended timing and dosing, and debunking circulating myths.