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Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy : A mixed methods investigation of matters of life and death

Hammarlin, Mia-Marie LU orcid ; Borin, Lars and Kokkinakis, Dimitrios (2023) In Journal of Digital Social Research 5(4). p.31-61
Abstract
In this article, hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccinations is investigated as a phenomenon touching upon existential questions. We argue that it encompasses ideas of illness and health, and also of dying and fear of suffering. Building on a specific strand within anti-vaccination studies, we conjecture that vaccine hesitancy is, to some extent, reasonable, and that this scepticism should be studied with compassion. Through a mixed methods approach, vaccine hesitancy, as it is being expressed in a Swedish digital open forum, is investigated and understood as, on the one hand, a perceived need of protecting one’s body from techno-scientific experiments, and thus the risk of becoming a victim of medicine itself. On the other hand, the community... (More)
In this article, hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccinations is investigated as a phenomenon touching upon existential questions. We argue that it encompasses ideas of illness and health, and also of dying and fear of suffering. Building on a specific strand within anti-vaccination studies, we conjecture that vaccine hesitancy is, to some extent, reasonable, and that this scepticism should be studied with compassion. Through a mixed methods approach, vaccine hesitancy, as it is being expressed in a Swedish digital open forum, is investigated and understood as, on the one hand, a perceived need of protecting one’s body from techno-scientific experiments, and thus the risk of becoming a victim of medicine itself. On the other hand, the community members express what we call a tacit belief in modern medicine by demonstrating their own “expert” pandemic knowledge. The analysis also shows how the COVID-19 pandemic triggers memories of another pandemic, namely the swine flu in 2009–2010, and what we term a medical crisis that occurred then, due to a vaccine that caused a rare but severe side effect in Sweden and elsewhere. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy, pandemic, social media, illness narrative, mixed methods, Flashback, topic modelling
in
Journal of Digital Social Research
volume
5
issue
4
pages
31 - 61
publisher
DIGSUM
ISSN
2003-1998
DOI
10.33621/jdsr.v5i4.170
project
Rumour Mining: Vaccination engagement on the internet
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
92451028-1f26-46f3-b4d5-89c31eb5c206
date added to LUP
2023-09-20 14:57:30
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:28:18
@article{92451028-1f26-46f3-b4d5-89c31eb5c206,
  abstract     = {{In this article, hesitancy towards COVID-19 vaccinations is investigated as a phenomenon touching upon existential questions. We argue that it encompasses ideas of illness and health, and also of dying and fear of suffering. Building on a specific strand within anti-vaccination studies, we conjecture that vaccine hesitancy is, to some extent, reasonable, and that this scepticism should be studied with compassion. Through a mixed methods approach, vaccine hesitancy, as it is being expressed in a Swedish digital open forum, is investigated and understood as, on the one hand, a perceived need of protecting one’s body from techno-scientific experiments, and thus the risk of becoming a victim of medicine itself. On the other hand, the community members express what we call a tacit belief in modern medicine by demonstrating their own “expert” pandemic knowledge. The analysis also shows how the COVID-19 pandemic triggers memories of another pandemic, namely the swine flu in 2009–2010, and what we term a medical crisis that occurred then, due to a vaccine that caused a rare but severe side effect in Sweden and elsewhere.}},
  author       = {{Hammarlin, Mia-Marie and Borin, Lars and Kokkinakis, Dimitrios}},
  issn         = {{2003-1998}},
  keywords     = {{COVID-19; vaccine hesitancy; pandemic; social media; illness narrative; mixed methods; Flashback; topic modelling}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{31--61}},
  publisher    = {{DIGSUM}},
  series       = {{Journal of Digital Social Research}},
  title        = {{Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy : A mixed methods investigation of matters of life and death}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/159038804/Hammarlin_et_al_JDSR_Published_version.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.33621/jdsr.v5i4.170}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}