Vaccines and Their Metaphors From Memories to Monsters in the Age of Misinformation

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - Why look at metaphors for vaccines?

1.1 Training the immune system to fight: Conventional metaphors for immunity and vaccines

1.2 Balance and music: Different metaphors, different framings

1.3 Thwarting the training: Same metaphors, different arguments

1.4 Snakes and lifebelts: Metaphors in pro- and anti-vaccination cartoons

1.5 But do metaphors actually work?

1.6 The rest of this book, and where I stand on vaccines

Chapter 2 - Dragon slayers and flu heroes: Educational materials for children and adolescents

2.1 Microbes with outer coats: Metaphors, children and education

2.2 'A vaccine is like a memory': A children's book

2.3 Anti-coronavirus knights: Educational videos about the COVID-19 and flu vaccines

2.3 'The protection grows with you': Educational videos about the HPV vaccine

2.4 Conclusion

Chapter 3 - 'They're flame retardants, not impenetrable firewalls': Science communication under pressure

3.1 Snapchat messages and pressures of context

3.2 Roast dinners and personalised cakes: Rapid vaccine development

3.3 Raincoats and seat belts: Vaccines that may not prevent infection

3.4 Covid school and book drafts: Multiple vaccine doses

3.5 Warm water and hurricanes: Low vaccination rates

3.6 Conclusion

Chapter 4 - 'Two lights appear and it's the train': UK Coronavirus press conferences

4.1 Coronavirus press conferences

4.2 Boris Johnson

4.2.1 Fights, races and a heroic narrative for vaccination

4.3 Jonathan Van-Tam

4.3.1 Football metaphors and the role of vaccines at different points in the pandemic

4.3.2 Train travel metaphors and vaccine development

4.3.3 Other ad hoc metaphors for vaccines and COVID-19 variants

4.4 Conclusion

Chapter 5 – From primroses to bubble wrap: Public health campaigns

5.1 Public health campaigns about vaccinations

5.2 Metaphors in Life versus Death public health messaging about vaccination

5.3.1 Light versus dark: World immunization week 2020

5.3.2 Spring rebirth: Italy's 2020-2021 campaign for COVID-19 vaccination

5.3 Variations on the Protection against Attack metaphor

5.3.1 A protective shield: Pakistan's 2025 campaign for HPV vaccination

5.3.2 From pugil sticks to bubble wrap: Seasonal vaccinations campaigns in the United Kingdom

5.4 'Wild to mild': The US National Foundation for Infectious Diseases' campaign for flu vaccination

5.5 Conclusion

Chapter 6 - 'Would you put your child in a car with no seatbelt ?': Pro- and anti-vaccination uses of the Seat belt metaphor in expert and lay debates

6.1 Vaccines as seat belts

6.2 The Seat belt metaphor in philosophical essays

6.3 The Seat belt metaphor on a parenting forum

6.3.1 Pro-vaccination uses of the Seat belt metaphor

6.3.2 Anti-vaccination resistance against the Seat belt metaphor

6.4 Conclusion

Chapter 7 - 'Assault on the mother': Anti-vaccination arguments in the 19th and 21st centuries

7.1. 'It's like you're shooting up a horse'

7.2 'The bloodhound of the childbearing woman': 19th century 'anti-vaccinators'

7.2.1 Aggressive animals, poison and monsters

7.2.2 A 'vaccination war'

7.3 'Assault on the mother': 21st century anti-vaxxers

7.3.1 Assault, pin cushions and a holocaust

7.3.2 'A fight for children's health'

7.4 Conclusion

Chapter 8 – Conclusion

Biography

Elena Semino is Distinguished Professor in Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, and Co-director of the ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science. She is co-author of the folllowing Routledge titles : Metaphor, Cancer and the End of Life,Researching Language and Health and HPV Vaccination Discourse Online.