With Covid infections on the rise again, there couldn’t be a more important time to examine the reasons why so many adults are still not getting the vaccine. It’s an explosive debate that goes to the heart of modern life and growing mistrust in the establishment.”
Covid-19 is on the rise again in the UK. After multiple lockdowns and more than 197,000 deaths, experts are warning we’re now entering a fifth wave of the pandemic. But why are so many people in the UK still yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine?
In this timely, eye-opening investigation commissioned by BBC Factual for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, due to air on Wednesday 20 July at 9pm, Professor Hannah Fry seeks to understand why a portion of the population remain unvaccinated against Covid-19.
Professor Hannah Fry is a British Mathematician who worked on the data that helped bring the UK out of its first lockdown. Following the largest UK-wide survey since the vaccine rollout began, she’s on a mission to get behind the headlines and find out what the nation thinks today.
To fully explore this complex and deeply divisive debate, Hannah will bring seven unvaccinated participants together under one roof to unpack the long-held opinions, beliefs and fears that have prevented them from getting the vaccine. Together, they will come face to face with leading experts, confronting the latest science and statistics to emerge in the field and dissecting how misinformation spreads on social media.
At the end of the experiment each contributor will be asked if what they have learned has changed their mind, and whether they will now take up the vaccine. Scientists say we are likely to face more pandemics, and more vaccine roll outs - what will it take to convince those who are unvaccinated to get their first Covid-19 vaccination?
Tom Coveney, BBC Commissioning Editor, Science, says: “With Covid infections on the rise again, there couldn’t be a more important time to examine the reasons why so many adults are still not getting the vaccine.
“It’s an issue that has torn families and workplaces apart, arguing over the science, the misinformation and the many different ways we’ve all been affected by the pandemic. It’s an explosive debate that goes to the heart of modern life and growing mistrust in the establishment.”
Craig Hunter, Creative Director of Factual, STV Studios, says: “The Covid vaccine is one of the most divisive health debates of recent years and this documentary explores a range of viewpoints in an open and sensitive way.
“Moving beyond the often misrepresented debate, this programme reveals why some people remain vaccine hesitant and, equally, what advocates of the vaccine can learn from those who’ve rejected it.”
Unvaccinated, a 1x60’ for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, is made by STV Studios. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Science and Natural History. The Executive Producers are Craig Hunter and Jo Roe, the Producer/Director is Rob McCourt, and the Commissioning Editor, Science, is Tom Coveney.
*this release was amended on 8 July 2022
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