• Melissa Sweet

06 February 2010In Inside Story, Melissa Sweet looks at the latest chapter in the debate about swine flu and its implications for public health campaigns

WHO DO you trust when it comes to advice about swine flu, and whether you or members of your family should be vaccinated? Is it your GP, your neighbour, the professor on the television or the government’s advertising campaign? Why do you trust them? How much do you trust them?

Questions about peoples’ trust in public health messages – including what it takes to win or lose it – are at the heart of a recent article in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, which details examples from across the globe in which trust in the safety of vaccines has been dented, often to the detriment of public health. It’s a timely piece, given the current push for parents in Australia to make sure their children are vaccinated against influenza as they return to school.

It’s also timely in the light of a series of recent developments that might have undermined public trust in official responses to pandemic influenza. While we were marking Australia Day, a senior official from the World Health Organization was defending his organisation’s management of the pandemic at a public hearing convened in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe...

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