OxTalks Change Freeze Starts 2 March
Oxford Events, the new replacement for OxTalks, will launch on 16th March. The two-week OxTalks freeze period starts on Monday 2nd March. During this time, there will be no facility to publish or edit events. The existing OxTalks site will remain available to view during this period. Once Oxford Events launches, you will need a Halo login to submit events. Full details are available on the Staff Gateway.
Contextualizing the Modern Era of Vaccination
Hesitancy toward vaccination has been a constant since the practice’s inception at the end of the eighteenth century, yet the mid-twentieth century introduced a complex paradox: the simultaneous rise of vaccine skepticism and the mass acceptance of compulsory childhood immunization. This presentation examines how historical trends in religious, political, and secular objections to vaccination have persisted and mutated over the last 200 years. It will describe the impact of modern social drivers—including shifting gender roles, environmental concerns, economic imperatives, and the valuation of children—on vaccination discourse from the latter-twentieth century to today. This historical contextualization will offer insight into how today’s vaccination resistance and rejection both mirror and depart from the past.
Date:
6 March 2026, 17:00
Venue:
St Anne's College, Woodstock Road OX2 6HS
Venue Details:
Tsuzuki Theatre
Speaker:
Elena Conis (University of California, Berkeley)
Organising department:
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Organiser:
Dr Alberto Giubilini (The Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics)
Part of:
Oxford Medical Humanities
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/why-not-vaccinate-some-historical-answers-tickets-1979728892410?aff=oddtdtcreator
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Eleanor Kerfoot
