Paper short abstract:

This paper explores circulations of anxiety through an ethnographic investigation of vaccine hesitancy in the Pacific Northwest. In the context of Covid-19, vaccine hesitancy has intensified. This paper explores vaccine anxiety as encapsulating the “public feeling” of our time.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores individual and societal circulations of anxiety through an ethnographic investigation of vaccine hesitancy in the Pacific Northwest. In a region long-defined by counter-culture and anti-government sentiment, vaccine hesitancy and refusal has become widespread. Regional distrust of vaccines, the vaccine industry, and government-funded research has led to dramatically reduced rates of vaccination among school aged children in the twenty-first century. According to the CDC, Oregon ranks first in the number of kindergarteners with non-medical exemptions for school vaccinations, with a rate of 7.5% state-wide. Public health officials blame recent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the region, including pertussis (2018) and measles (2019), on increasing vaccine refusal.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has intensified and spread, even among parents who otherwise support childhood vaccines. While a Covid-19 vaccine is highly anticipated and hoped for, promising a return to “normalcy,” it is also the subject of widespread anxiety and dread. Preliminary research among mothers, physicians, and public health officials in Lane County, Oregon (Fall 2020) documents the growing fear and distrust with which Americans view the government, privatized healthcare, the pharmaceutical industry, and institutions more generally. These anxious orientations have dramatically reduced confidence in a potential Covid-19 vaccine and amplified fears of compulsory vaccination. While parents fear a potentially toxic drug, public health officials fear vaccine refusal, protracted illness, and ongoing death. This paper explores such private and public vaccine anxiety as encapsulating the “public feeling” (Cvetkovich 2012) of our time.