Episode 14: Equity in Science and Technology Policy and the Promise of Vaccines Ft.Maya Goldenberg

The Received Wisdom

In this episode, Shobita and Jack talk about President Biden's plans for science and technology policy and his appointment of Alondra Nelson as Deputy Director for Science and Society in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the United States and United Kingdom. And they chat with Maya Goldenberg, philosophy professor at the University of Guelph, about vaccine hesitancy and how it can be addressed.

- Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to Dr. Eric Lander, “In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt….” Letter. January 15, 2021.

- Maya Goldenberg, Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021.

- Maya Goldenberg, "The Coronavirus Vaccines are Here. Now What?" Impact Ethics. December 18, 2020.

- Maya Goldenberg. “Vaccines, Values and Science.” Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2019 April 8;191: E397-8.
Maya Goldenberg, "A lack of trust, not of science, behind vaccine resistance." Toronto Star. November 9, 2017.

- Maya Goldenberg, "Public Misunderstanding of Science?" Reframing the Problem of Vaccine Hesitancy." Perspectives on Science. 24:5 (2016): 552-581.
- Maya Goldenberg, "Scientific Illiteracy is not the Tragedy of our Times." Impact Ethics. September 3, 2015.

Study Questions:

1. How is President Biden trying to re-imagine the US science and technology policy strategy?

2. Why might marginalized communities of color be hesitant to take a COVID-19 vaccine?

3. Why are the "war on science" and ignorance framings insufficient for understanding vaccine hesitancy?

4. What are the best ways to respond to vaccine hesitancy, according to Goldenberg?

Transcript available at threreceivedwisdom.org