1st Edition
Vaccine Hesitancy in the Nordic Countries Trust and Distrust During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Bringing together studies from across the Nordic region, this book examines the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on vaccine hesitancy. Shedding light on the political tensions that emerged as a result of the pandemic and the debates that ensued both within and between the Nordic nations, it investigates the vociferous discussions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines and their presumed negative side effects through the lens of trust; trust in and between the neighbouring countries, in healthcare systems, fellow citizens, and experts; in public authorities, politicians, researchers, journalists, and pharmaceutical companies. The first volume to explore vaccine hesitancy in the Scandinavian context, this ground-breaking volume offers fresh perspectives on vaccine scepticism not as a form of ignorance or lack of knowledge, but as a manifestation of a more fundamental lack of faith in modern government and science. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, politics, anthropology, media studies, communication and cultural studies with interests in public health, popular and political discourse and questions of public trust.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
List of contributors
Preface
1
Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy and the COVID-19 crisis in the Nordic countries
Lars Borin, Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Dimitrios Kokkinakis, and Fredrik Miegel
Part I: Nordic societal trust under stress
2
Apollonian & Dionysian trust in vaccination
Mikael Klintman
3
Civic side effects
Fredrik Miegel
4
Distrust and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Sweden
Björn Rönnerstrand
5
“Read the room Sweden”: Memes, trust, and vulnerability in pandemic engagement
Joanna Doona
Part II: COVID-19 in Nordic public discourses
6
Trust, mistrust and data narratives about COVID-19 vaccines in Denmark: How people reflect on the past, present and future when navigating the pandemic
Sofie á Rogvi and Klaus Hoeyer
7
Trust and the public vaccine debate in Finland before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Aapo Kuusipalo, Johanna Nurmi, Katri-Maria Järvinen, and Pia Vuolanto
8
Uncertainty at the needle point: Vaccine hesitancy, trust and public health communication in Norway during swine flu and COVID-19
Karine Aasgaard Jansen
9
Where the fringe and mainstream meet: Discussions on vaccine hesitancy among public radio listeners on Facebook
Emma Ricknell
Part III: The growing chorus on the margin
10
Fearing mRNA: A mixed methods study of vaccine rumours
Mia-Marie Hammarlin, Dimitrios Kokkinakis, Fredrik Miegel, and Jullietta Stoencheva
11
The COVID-19 vaccine discussion on Twitter: Arguments of sceptics and supporters
Jana Sverdljuk and Bastiaan Bruinsma
12
COVID-19, the mark of the beast, and the Last Days: A study on vaccine hesitancy in Norwegian Christian charismatic movements
Tove Ingebjørg Fjell
13
“Infections without properties”: Trust and cultural difference in the Norwegian public debate about minorities and COVID-19 before the vaccination
John Ødemark, Vetle Hove, Trine Krigsvoll Haagensen, and Tony Sandset
Index
Biography
Lars Borin is Professor of Natural Language Processing at the Department of Swedish, Multilingualism, Language Technology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is the co-editor of Approaches to Measuring Linguistic Differences and Constructicography: Constructicon Development across Languages.
Mia-Marie Hammarlin is Reader in Ethnology and Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Communication and Media at Lund University, Sweden. She is the author of Exposed: Living with Scandal, Rumour and Gossip.
Dimitrios Kokkinakis is Reader in Language Technology at the Department of Swedish, Multilingualism, Language Technology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Fredrik Miegel is Reader and Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Communication and Media at Lund University, Sweden.
