Katie Atwell
Dr. Katie Attwell is an Australian political scientist, sociologist and behavioural psychologist. Her career is overwhelmingly dedicated to developing and promoting “mandatory vaccine policy across Australia, Europe and the United States of America, researching the tactics their governments use to motivate people to vaccinate, how policies make it to the agenda, how they are designed, how they differ, and how they work.”1)
Affiliations
I Immunize
Attwell is associated with the I Immunize campaign.2)
Among her research with the campaign includes a controversial “values-based” behaviour change study engaging 304 online respondents from a “community known for its alternative lifestyles and lower-than-national vaccine coverage rates.” The study was funded by the Immunisation Alliance of Western Australia using an unrestricted “Vaxigrant” from Sanofi.3)
Immunization Coalition
Attwell is a member of the Immunization Coalition, which is funded by vaccine/pharmaceutical manufacturers Pfizer, Apotex, Roche, CSL/Seqirus, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Merck, as well as Google.4)
University of Western Australia
Dr. Katie Attwell is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Fellow, senior lecturer and academic researcher at the University of Western Australia School of Social Sciences.5) She is also associated with the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, Telethon Kids Institute and School of Medicine.6)
Funding
Attwell was granted the 2019-2022 Australia Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, receiving a total of $405,751.00 AUD.7) She has “received travel, accommodation and conference registration support” from GlaxoSmithKline, and travel, accommodation, and speaker fees from Merck.8)
COVID-19
Attwell contributed to the incredibly-well funded research field of behaviour change and vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, she co-authored a paper that explored methods to “inform policy regarding how to convince the undecided to vaccine”, on the stipulation that “broad community acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccination will be critical for effectively halting the spread of the virus.”9)
1)
, 5)
, 7)
FABLE Marketing Team. Dr Katie Attwell | Staff. UWA. Retrieved February 17, 2022, from https://archive.ph/ynNsL
2)
Fisher, C., Attwell, K., & Wise, M. J. (2014, January 29). Vaccinations are a vital part of ethical ‘alternative’ lifestyles. The Conversation. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/vaccinations-are-a-vital-part-of-ethical-alternative-lifestyles-22385
3)
Attwell, K., & Freeman, M. (2015). I Immunise: An evaluation of a values-based campaign to change attitudes and beliefs. Vaccine, 33(46), 6235–6240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.09.092
4)
Immunisation Coalition. (2020, December 14). About Us. Retrieved December 5, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20210303185121/https://www.immunisationcoalition.org.au/about-us/
6)
, 8)
, 9)
Attwell, K., Lake, J., Sneddon, J., Gerrans, P., Blyth, C., & Lee, J. (2021). Converting the maybes: Crucial for a successful COVID-19 vaccination strategy. PLOS ONE, 16(1), e0245907. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245907