2 The politicization of science can prevent scientific advances from occurring and/or limit the positive impacts that ensue when people reject sound and beneficial scientific advice. One of the primary ways that science is politicized is the emphasis of inherent uncertainties to plant doubt among the public over the existence of any scientific consensus. Politicization can occur partly because science “is inherently uncertain… the bottom line is that science is easy to challenge because uncertainty always exists and questioning extant knowledge is part of the research process” 1 (p615). In this chapter, we focus on the politicization of science, or its use to advance a particular political agenda. Science is frequently used and distorted to advance political, economic, or cultural agendas. The next section summarizes social science findings on overcoming vaccine resistance, and the concluding section outlines some of the lessons of the politicization of the disease and the vaccine for health practitioners and life scientists. We then review the politicization of the vaccine at both national and international scales, variability in public acceptance of the vaccines in the United States, and response to the emergence of variants. After briefly describing the development of the vaccines, we describe the ways in which the disease itself became politicized because of statements by political leaders and also by media accounts including social media. This chapter explores these issues in the context of COVID-19 vaccine resistance in the United States. It is urgent for scientists and clinicians to better understand: (1) the roots of politicization as related to COVID-19 vaccines (2) the factors that influence people's receptivity to scientific misinformation in politicized contexts and (3) how to combat the politicization of science to increase the use of life-saving vaccines. Politicization has undoubtedly contributed to hesitancy toward uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. The politicization of science can limit the positive impacts that scientific advances can offer when people reject sound and beneficial scientific advice.
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