Acting with 'facts' in order to re-model vaccination policies: the case of MMR-vaccine in the UK 1988

Abstract

In October 1988, the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) triple vaccine was introduced in the UK. This study analyses the process of gathering and communicating factual evidence to support the decision made in order to implement the triple vaccine and to renew the prevailing vaccination policy. The study shows that implementation of a new national vaccination strategy is a not single act of decision-making, but a heterogeneous process of acting with facts, which grounds the decision itself on a solid body of evidence. This study develops the concept ‘acting with’ as a way to describe how facts are acted upon in the context of utilisation. In particular, the concept of acting with is refined as enacting, interacting, and reacting in the case of implementing the MMR triple vaccine in the UK (1987). These three modalities of acting with facts reveal the dynamic, practice-driven side of evidence. The study is based on archived documents held at the Health Protection Agency, Colindale