Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
Some of the media concerning vaccine hesitancy lumps everyone who is vaccine hesitant together, describing these people as being lazy, selfish, or believers in conspiracy theories. But some vaccine hesitancy is borne out of racial injustice. We will discuss this sort of vaccine hesitancy and explain how one morally ought to respond to it while advocating for strict policies concerning vaccination.
This talk was held on October 21, 2021. It was the third in a four-part series of public lectures, titled "Race and Racism", prepared in partnership with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, the Department of Philosophy at Western University, and the London Public Library.
About the speakers:
Carolyn McLeod is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Western University and a recently named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Her areas of expertise include feminist philosophy, bioethics, and moral philosophy. She is joined by Kharissa Edwards and Sinéad Osivwemu. During the summer of 2021 they both completed an Undergraduate Student Research Internship with Dr. McLeod that focused on race and vaccine hesitancy—the subject of this presentation. Kharissa received her Honours BSc at Western in Biology & Medical Sciences, and she aspires to be a bioethicist or health lawyer. Sinéad is a third-year honours undergraduate student at Western who specializes in genetics and who also has research interests in bioethics and the philosophy of race, culture, and ethnicity.
Visit the Rotman website for more information on upcoming events, project descriptions, and job openings: rotman.uwo.ca
Some of the media concerning vaccine hesitancy lumps everyone who is vaccine hesitant together, describing these people as being lazy, selfish, or believers in conspiracy theories. But some vaccine hesitancy is borne out of racial injustice. We will discuss this sort of vaccine hesitancy and explain how one morally ought to respond to it while advocating for strict policies concerning vaccination.
This talk was held on October 21, 2021. It was the third in a four-part series of public lectures, titled "Race and Racism", prepared in partnership with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, the Department of Philosophy at Western University, and the London Public Library.
About the speakers:
Carolyn McLeod is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Western University and a recently named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Her areas of expertise include feminist philosophy, bioethics, and moral philosophy. She is joined by Kharissa Edwards and Sinéad Osivwemu. During the summer of 2021 they both completed an Undergraduate Student Research Internship with Dr. McLeod that focused on race and vaccine hesitancy—the subject of this presentation. Kharissa received her Honours BSc at Western in Biology & Medical Sciences, and she aspires to be a bioethicist or health lawyer. Sinéad is a third-year honours undergraduate student at Western who specializes in genetics and who also has research interests in bioethics and the philosophy of race, culture, and ethnicity.
Visit the Rotman website for more information on upcoming events, project descriptions, and job openings: rotman.uwo.ca
