Vaccinations are known to save millions of lives every year, yet there is an increasingly worrying trend around the world to mistrust them and refuse vaccination. This program traces the history of vaccines and examines some of the reasons leading to vaccine hesitancy. It looks at the dangers of the HPV virus and the vaccine designed to protect against it. It considers vaccine development for people with compromised immune systems, such as those with HIV, people receiving chemotherapy for cancer, or undergoing organ transplantation. It traces the sometime gross origins of the concept of vaccination, looks at how vaccines were clinically developed during the 20th century, and discusses the recent wave of anti-vaxing and alarming consequences with the return of measles across the world.

Originally released by Network Ireland Television, 2019. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on June 15, 2023.