The Passionate Eye

Vaccine Wars (29x4)

Air date: Sep 26, 2020

There’s a growing and potentially catastrophic threat to the future of public health - the anti-vaccine movement. Twenty years ago, former British doctor Andrew Wakefield made fraudulent claims that vaccines were dangerous and harmful, sparking a dangerous conspiracy. Campaigners claim that vaccines are unsafe, and the cause of a health catastrophe. Scientific research doesn’t back them up. Scientists have worked tirelessly for decades to disprove the message, but in an internet age of anti-experts, anti-science and mutating misinformation, the conspiracy not only persists, it is reaching around the globe. Vaccine Wars investigates just how the ‘anti-vax’ message has spread, what gives it currency and who may be benefiting. As four European nations, including the UK, lose their measles-free status and cases surge worldwide, the World Health Organisation has labelled ‘vaccine hesitancy’ one of the top ten threats to global health. Vaccine Wars examines the arguments of those who campaign against vaccines, and hears from people at the heart of the alleged conspiracies.