Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy as an Imbricated Social, Cognitive, and Emotional Controversy
摘要
The Covid-19 pandemic raised the challenge of building sustainable societies able to overcome health crises “leaving no one behind” (LNOB). In France, vaccine hesitancy disrupted the society and led to strong caricatured pro/anti-vax opposition in the mass media. It is only the mandatory health pass that resulted in having 79% of the population fully vaccinated. In this chapter, we argue that unpacking the imbricated social, cognitive, and emotional nature of these types of controversies, and developing education to socio-scientific issues, accordingly, may help future citizens reach critical and constructive argumentation. In particular, making the affective background of diverging claims explicit could help mutual understanding and avoid stigmatization of others. To illustrate our argument, we draw on the deep analysis of three widespread utterances in the French media about vaccine hesitancy. We show that, even if they might sound only cognitive, only social or only emotional at first glance, they in fact all rely on these three dimensions. We conclude by discussing how such a perspective can inform science education targeting an inclusive, sustainable society.