In this interview, professors Heather MacDougall and Laurence Monnais discuss perceptions, apathy and opposition around vaccination. Specifically, they take a look at the factors underpinning low uptake of measles vaccine in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, decades before the infamous Wakefield autism article.Heather MacDougall is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo where she specializes in the history of public health and health policy. Laurence Monnais is a professor of history and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the Université de Montréal. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. They co-authored a Humanities article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.Full medical humanities article: www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.171238To request a transcript of this podcast, contact cmajgroup@cmaj.caSubscribe to CMAJ Podcasts on Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast app. You can also follow us directly on our SoundCloud page or you can visit www.cmaj.ca/page/multimedia/podcasts.