Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, public attitudes towards vaccines have changed, but many remain sceptical about their effectiveness.
Some believe that vaccinations can make people ill by introducing a disease into the body. Some believe that receiving multiple vaccinations at the same time can have significant and ongoing health impacts. Others have expressed the view during the COVID-19 pandemic that vaccinations were a way of ‘chipping’ people so they could be tracked or controlled.
Vaccinations remain in significant use across the world in humans and animals, such as livestock, as a way of controlling disease and minimising its impact on populations. Some diseases, such as smallpox and rinderpest, have been as good as eradicated from the planet.
Join us and ‘Ask the Expert’ for this informative and interesting discussion on the use of vaccines and why there is still hesitancy around their use.
SESSION 1
- Thursday 18th June 2026
- 15:30 BST
- REGISTRATION >>
SESSION 2
- Friday 19th June 2026
- 08:30 BST
- REGISTRATION >>
About Julie Leask AO
A social scientist and professor in the School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, where she co-leads the Social and Behavioural Insights in immunisation research group. She has qualifications in public health, nursing and midwifery. Her research focuses on the drivers of vaccine uptake and risk communication. She is a member of the University of Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases and a visiting professorial fellow at the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance. She has had advisory and committee roles with WHO, UNICEF, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Academies of Science and Health and Medical Sciences, and governments. She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 2024 “for distinguished service to health and medical research, to policy advice, and to enhancing community understanding of immunisation.”
About Christine F Miller FAIES F.ISRM AMBCI cABCF
Chris has decades of experience in all aspects of emergency, business continuity and risk management. For 20 years, she specialised in ‘full cycle’ business continuity management, organisational resilience, simulation exercises, after-action reviews and lessons management.
From January 2022 to June 2025, Chris served as a Short-Term Consultant (STC) with the World Bank Group in Timor-Leste, the Kingdom of Eswatini and the South Asia Region (Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand). She most recently consulted with the Asian Development Bank on a tabletop earthquake simulation in Manila and developed an enterprise risk management online self-paced training program soon to be released by a Middle East and South Asian provider.
Her clients range from small organisations to large corporates, including NewsCorp, as well as not-for-profits and governments in Australia and internationally. Chris has presented at numerous conferences and facilitated hundreds of workshops, webinars and training sessions, both in person and virtually. She has received several awards for her work in business continuity and emergency management.
In 2023, Chris became the first woman to volunteer as President and Board Chair of the Australasian Institute of Emergency Services (AIES) in its nearly 50-year history. She is a Fellow of both the AIES and the ISRM.
