Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition
This article offers a qualitative analysis of how people discursively justify and make sense of their COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 39 people in British Columbia, Canada, just prior to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine (Oct–Dec 2020), the objective of this...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-07-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251355838 |
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| author | Katelin Albert Garry Gray |
| author_facet | Katelin Albert Garry Gray |
| author_sort | Katelin Albert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article offers a qualitative analysis of how people discursively justify and make sense of their COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 39 people in British Columbia, Canada, just prior to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine (Oct–Dec 2020), the objective of this study is to explore why some citizens are in favor of a COVID-19 vaccination while others are against receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Our qualitative data reveals three key factors that inform people’s discursive justifications of their COVID-19 vaccine intention: (i) self-rated health, (ii) (mis)trust, and (iii) intuition. First, we found that vaccination justification was coordinated through participants’ self-rated views of their own health and whether they adopted an individualist or a collectivist cultural perspective of risk. Second, participants’ justification was tied to (mis)trust in government and public health initiatives, affecting participants’ upcoming willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. And third, drawing on the concept of epistemic repertoires, we observed that vaccination justification was expressed through various types of intuitions that were grounded in personal “gut feelings,” religious beliefs, and scientific reasoning. Overall, our research highlights the importance of qualitatively examining the cultural and social meanings that citizens attach to vaccines and the “cultural scripts” they draw on when responding to public health vaccination initiatives. Our findings reveal the need for local, contextualized, and community generated health strategies that go beyond simply providing public health information. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a1a6b7d06ec7430f8c8ad90c85900aa9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-a1a6b7d06ec7430f8c8ad90c85900aa92025-08-22T16:03:31ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402025-07-011510.1177/21582440251355838Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and IntuitionKatelin Albert0Garry Gray1Department of Sociology, University of Victoria, BC, CanadaDepartment of Sociology, University of Victoria, BC, CanadaThis article offers a qualitative analysis of how people discursively justify and make sense of their COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 39 people in British Columbia, Canada, just prior to the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine (Oct–Dec 2020), the objective of this study is to explore why some citizens are in favor of a COVID-19 vaccination while others are against receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Our qualitative data reveals three key factors that inform people’s discursive justifications of their COVID-19 vaccine intention: (i) self-rated health, (ii) (mis)trust, and (iii) intuition. First, we found that vaccination justification was coordinated through participants’ self-rated views of their own health and whether they adopted an individualist or a collectivist cultural perspective of risk. Second, participants’ justification was tied to (mis)trust in government and public health initiatives, affecting participants’ upcoming willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. And third, drawing on the concept of epistemic repertoires, we observed that vaccination justification was expressed through various types of intuitions that were grounded in personal “gut feelings,” religious beliefs, and scientific reasoning. Overall, our research highlights the importance of qualitatively examining the cultural and social meanings that citizens attach to vaccines and the “cultural scripts” they draw on when responding to public health vaccination initiatives. Our findings reveal the need for local, contextualized, and community generated health strategies that go beyond simply providing public health information.https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251355838 |
| spellingShingle | Katelin Albert Garry Gray Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition SAGE Open |
| title | Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition |
| title_full | Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition |
| title_fullStr | Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition |
| title_short | Vaccination in a Post-truth World: The Role of Self-rated Health, (Mis)trust, and Intuition |
| title_sort | vaccination in a post truth world the role of self rated health mis trust and intuition |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251355838 |
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