Tara Haelle will focus on vaccine hesitancy and vaccine refusal. This is a global health threat that lurks unnoticed until it erupts into unpredictable disease outbreaks that are difficult to contain. She explains what underlies the fear and hesitancy that many people have toward vaccines, why it's not as irrational as some believe, and what's necessary to address it.

Tara Haelle is a freelance science and multimedia journalist who writes regularly at Forbes, NPR, Scientific American, Slate, Medscape, and other U.S.-based publications. She co-wrote “The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Guide to the First Four Years” with science journalist Emily Willingham, and she blogs about science and parenting at Red Wine & Applesauce. She holds a master's in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin and has published her images in several publications.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx