Vaccine Inequality: The Ouroboros Within the Immunisation Social Order

Health is intimately connected to a number of social and economic inequalities at a range of scales. As an intervention that mitigates the risks posed by infectious diseases, vaccines have a role to play in alleviating many inequalities, but are themselves subject to a number of factors that reduce equality of access and uptake. These issues are the focus of this chapter: what impact can vaccines have on inequalities in society, and what are some of the issues that underpin inequalities in vaccine access and uptake? We examine both the social co-benefits relating to the reduction of social inequality produced by high levels of vaccine coverage as well as the problems or challenges to the development of the immunisation social order internationally that inequalities in access and uptake represent.