Introduction

This chapter introduces the idea of biases of communication in respect of anti-vaccination discourse. The chapter provides an overview of the main issues around journalists’ depictions of inoculation and opposition to it and lays the foundation for empirical work comparing two ‘crisis’ moments in the history of anti-vaccination in the UK, those around polio and subsequently those around pertussis/whooping cough. The chapter makes the case for considering anti-vaccination/vaccine hesitancy discourses as localised rather than universal and places emphasis on national concerns and nationalism as key sites for the production of meaning around inoculation.