Values, Politics and Power Relations in the Development and Regulation of Vaccines

Here we begin our substantive exploration of the modern social and political nature and impacts of vaccines. We do so by examining examples of how subjective values, social relationships, power and interests influence and reshape the interconnected processes of development and regulation. First, the chapter begins with an overview of the central actors and processes in the development and regulatory assessment of vaccines. In doing this, we discuss the process of testing vaccine candidates (a crucial component in the immunisation social order and its maintenance) and the nature of the global vaccine market. Following this, we turn to examine vaccines as political entities discussing how gendered and heteronormative values were reflected in and (re)shaped by the development and initial response to the first HPV vaccine. The chapter also analyses the political nature of vaccines in relation to the pharmaceutical turn in national security. Next, the chapter looks at the case of the first vaccine developed to prevent rotavirus. This discussion highlights the significance of social values in regulatory assessment and the withdrawal of the vaccine from the market. Finally, the chapter explores the relations between powerful actors in the development and regulation of COVID-19 vaccines.