Exploring meaning-making among those who are identified by scientists as vaccine-resistant, vaccine-hesitant, or vaccine-sceptical
type: CreativeWork
description: Vaccines are an indisputable human right and an important tool in the advancement of world health. Over the last few decades, their function in disease prevention and outbreak management has been increasingly important. Immunization is considered an important investment in one's health, and in South Africa, childhood immunization is an important and effective public health intervention. South Africa uses an opt-out vaccination system. Children receive their first dose of vaccines upon birth unless their parent states otherwise and continue to receive a standard series of vaccinations for common illnesses throughout childhood. These include vaccinations for the BCG, Polio, Rotaviruses, Pneumonia, and Diphtheria. They also receive vaccinations for tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated polio vaccine, and a combination of Haemophilus influenzae type B and hepatitis B and measles. Vaccinations and boosters continue until 18 months old. Thereafter, girls and boys ages 6 and 12 receive the Td Vaccine (Tetanus and reduced strength of the Diphtheria Vaccine). Children also receive voluntary vaccines such as the Flu vaccine throughout their lives and the Human Papillomavirus HPV vaccine is given to girls from as early as 9 years and they usually receive a boost later. This suggests that vaccination is already an ordinary part of most South African lives. However, faced with COVID-19, debates erupted about the value, efficacy, and role of vaccinations in the prevention of illness. The dissertation explores debates about vaccination as they arose amid the pandemic. Drawing on three months of research conducted in 2022-3, it reflects on the social anxieties that the vaccine evoked and the nuances of simplistic accounts of vaccine resistance. Several factors have been identified as influencing vaccination resistance. Some are related to mistrust of biomedicine (due, in part, to previous histories of biomedical experimentation and the apartheid state's harmful practices); othe…
abstract: Vaccines are an indisputable human right and an important tool in the advancement of world health. Over the last few decades, their function in disease prevention and outbreak management has been increasingly important. Immunization is considered an important investment in one's health, and in South Africa, childhood immunization is an important and effective public health intervention. South Africa uses an opt-out vaccination system. Children receive their first dose of vaccines upon birth unless their parent states otherwise and continue to receive a standard series of vaccinations for common illnesses throughout childhood. These include vaccinations for the BCG, Polio, Rotaviruses, Pneumonia, and Diphtheria. They also receive vaccinations for tetanus, acellular pertussis, inactivated polio vaccine, and a combination of Haemophilus influenzae type B and hepatitis B and measles. Vaccinations and boosters continue until 18 months old. Thereafter, girls and boys ages 6 and 12 receive the Td Vaccine (Tetanus and reduced strength of the Diphtheria Vaccine). Children also receive voluntary vaccines such as the Flu vaccine throughout their lives and the Human Papillomavirus HPV vaccine is given to girls from as early as 9 years and they usually receive a boost later. This suggests that vaccination is already an ordinary part of most South African lives. However, faced with COVID-19, debates erupted about the value, efficacy, and role of vaccinations in the prevention of illness. The dissertation explores debates about vaccination as they arose amid the pandemic. Drawing on three months of research conducted in 2022-3, it reflects on the social anxieties that the vaccine evoked and the nuances of simplistic accounts of vaccine resistance. Several factors have been identified as influencing vaccination resistance. Some are related to mistrust of biomedicine (due, in part, to previous histories of biomedical experimentation and the apartheid state's harmful practices); othe…
author: Ngomane, Tsholofelo
language: en
keywords: COVID-19, Vaccine Hesitancy, Vaccine Resistance, Vaccine Skepticism, South Africa
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:01Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41848