Unvaxxed
Unvaxxed: Trust, truth and the rise of vaccine outrage
Unvaxxed is a nuanced, timely look at vaccine hesitancy and how uncertainty and misinformation have influenced the Australian experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Written by award-winning science journalist Dyani Lewis, this is the second book in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books.
Anti-vax protests, the 'scamdemic', disproven home remedies: how did we get here? The realities of lockdowns and the erosion of trust in government and authority have fed into a small but significant history of anti-vaxxing in Australia that has found unlikely bedfellows in the QAnon conspiracy cult, white supremacy movements and the wellness community. The genie is out of the bottle – what do we do now? Do vaccine mandates work, or do they simply hasten the erosion of trust and the spread of different kinds of ‘truth’ on the subject of vaccines? And what is the actual first-hand human fallout from vaccine refusal for families split over the issue?
Interweaving personal experience and first-hand narratives from those on the frontlines alongside smart, perceptive and compassionate commentary on the scientific and sociocultural effects of vaccine misinformation, Unvaxxed plots a sorely needed way forward for Australia in 2022.
From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.
Audio
Up Close
Between 2011 and 2014 I was the science and technology producer for the University of Melbourne’s podcast, Up Close. Below are the episodes I hosted:
Natural value: Pricing ecosystems, and its implications for conservation policy (09/14)
Ribosomes: Unlocking the secrets of your cellular protein factories (09/ 14)
Altered expression: Epigenetics and its influence on human development (08/ 14)
Viral diary: The global rise and near demise of polio (07/ 14)
Organs on a chip: How 3D models of living tissue are changing biomedical research (07/ 14)
Brain of the beholder: The neuroscience of beauty (06/ 14)
Innocent bystander: How childhood diarrhoea can trigger diabetes (05/ 14)
Prey for the oceans: How marine predators influence marine ecology (03/ 14)
Brains at risk: The curious link between strokes and Alzheimer’s disease (03/ 14)
Fur and against: Scrutinizing the efficacy of animal testing and its alternatives (03/ 14)
Moment’s notice: Enhancing well-being through the practice of mindfulness (02/ 14)
Inherited risk: The benefit and burden of genetic testing for heritable diseases (01/ 14)
Gut harmony: Why the right mix of microbes is important to our health (01/ 14)
Music and mind: Can Mozart really sharpen your neural connections? (12/ 13)
Life by numbers: Systems biology and its approach to researching disease (11/ 13)
You’ve got male: The wide-ranging effects of testosterone (10/ 13)
Hormones in a hurry: Uneasy passages through puberty and adolescence (09/ 13)
Sequencing seizures: Discovering new genetic mutations behind epilepsy (09/ 13)
Beyond exceptional: What makes a child prodigy? (08/ 13)
Setting forth safely: Travel health before, during, and after the journey (07/ 13)
Pregnancy 2.0: The lingering effects of modern reproduction (07/ 13)
Vanquishing the vectors: Enlisting bacteria to fight mosquito-borne disease (07/ 13)
Prey to temptation: Our struggle with irrational health choices (05/ 13)
Where’s your compassion? Generation Y and the new empathy deficit (05/ 13)
Carrots that stick: Rethinking pleasure and pain as human motivators (04/ 13)
Enquiry on exhibit: enlisting art to help communicate science (03/ 13)
Less than us: are people hardwired to dehumanize others? (01/ 13)
Contentedly caged? Researching the behavior of animals in captivity (12/ 12)
Lifting the baseline: tackling health care challenges in developing economies (11/ 12)
Toxic titbits? The effects of nanoparticles on our health (09/ 12)
Sexing the wallaby: marsupial reproduction and what it says about us (09/ 12)
Not just the King’s speech: stuttering and its causes (08/ 12)
Reaping what we sow: agriculture’s role in climate change (01/ 12)
Conditions of affluence and aging: fatty liver disease, macular degeneration (01/ 12)
Healthy moves: exercise for cancer patients, and insights into arthritis (12/ 11)
Peak fish: rising human consumption of seafood, and its implications (12/ 11)
Something in the air: chemical communication via pheromones (11/ 11)
Worming their way: parasites, their larvae, and your brain (10/ 11)
Mosquito bytes: fighting malaria with computational science (07/ 11)
Others
‘Poo transplants’ – the Australian story, recorded for Ockham’s Razor (ABC Radio National) (02/ 13)From 2011 until I moved away in 2015, I regularly co-hosted 3RRR’s science show, Einstein-a-Go-Go. You can listen to a specific week’s show here, or subscribe to the podcasts here.