Socio-Technological Relationships in Vaccine Systems

This book critically examines the foundational assumptions of vaccine systems, challenging the dominant linear narrative of vaccine creation and production, regulation, and distribution. Rather than treating these components as isolated and sequential, the project adopts a holistic approach to unpack their dynamic interrelations. The volume is organized into three parts—Creation and Production, Regulation, and Distribution—each showcasing how broader social, political, cultural, and economic processes shape the inter-relationships between these components. It offers a unique contribution by reframing the understanding of vaccine systems through an interdisciplinary lens that draws on law, public health, innovation studies, psychology and science and technology studies. It is distinct in combining theoretical analysis with empirical insights from diverse national and socio-cultural contexts to examine how these systems operate in practice. In doing so, it supports the call for more inclusive, transparent, and context-sensitive models of vaccine governance, which is particularly important in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and in preparation for future public health challenges.