Edinburgh Napier University

  Public health interventions such as immunizations for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine are not neutral but occur within a socio-cultural, historical context. They are given meaning through language and discourse. There are multiple meanings available for the HPV vaccine from a ‘life-saving’ cancer vaccine to a promiscuous sexually associated vaccine to a dangerous agent causing side effects. Meanings of vaccines are context-bound and not fixed and can be ever-challenged and (re)produced through multiple online media channels. In this pecha kucha we explore some of the diversity of representations for the HPV vaccine available from the perspective of parents and young people confronted with decision-making. In this exploration we highlight dominant representations available and the positions available for parents and young people in an overwhelming online context of increasingly critical, anti-vaccination channels and a ‘confidence’ crisis.