Vaccine hesitancy is arguably one of the most significant contemporary bioethics challenges. Certain religious groups and individuals might be vaccine hesitant due to historical injustices or socially ingrained perceptions of incompatibility between religion, religious values, and science. For example, some vaccines are associated with religiously stigmatized behaviors, such as sexual intercourse and the HPV vaccine. This project utilizes empirical ethics qualitative methods to investigate and conceptualize religion-based vaccine hesitancy in the United States. Specifically, we will utilize qualitative methods to investigate vaccine hesitancy with Christian and Jewish pre-health students at Arizona State University (ASU) as well as Christian and Jewish religious community leaders in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area. Additionally, we will develop and pilot a curriculum targeted at ASU pre-health students that explores the role of religion in their scientific and medical education and future practice.
By the end of the project, we will have published multiple peer-reviewed publications, presented the project at various interdisciplinary academic conferences and to ASU institutional leadership, and developed and piloted curriculum for engaging with pre-health students with religion as it regards vaccine hesitancy. Ultimately, this project is not focused on promoting vaccination. Instead, through this research we focus on fostering an open dialogue between different health and religious communities that normally do not engage with each other.
