Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 4(12), pp. 1108 - 1116
DOI: 10.13189/sa.2016.041210
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Solidarity at the Needle Point - the Intersection of Compassion and Containment during the A(H1N1) Pandemic in Sweden 2009

Britta Lundgren ^*
Ethnology at the Department of Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University, Sweden

ABSTRACT

During the start of the A(H1N1) pandemic 2009, the WHO talked of the pandemic as an extreme expression of the global need for solidarity, and vaccination as the preferred national response. While seasonal vaccination mostly is framed as an individual benefit, the pandemic mass-vaccination in Sweden was framed in terms of solidarity. In the context of public health in Sweden, solidarity has worked as a rational evidence-based argument for politicians as proof of a reflexive and confident welfare nation. Solidarity was also perceived as an emotion that was possible to enact in bodily practice and would serve the goal of reaching herd immunity for the population. In this article these "politico-somatic" aspects of the pandemic preparedness and response are examined through qualitative methods such as ethnological interviews and fieldwork. The article discusses the entangled articulations of compassion and containment during the pandemic and how the side effect of narcolepsy from the vaccine Pandemrix disrupted the interpretations of solidarity as a relational concept. For the future, it is important to learn the lessons from the pandemic response, including how the issue of the side effect will influence coming preparedness and how the forces of compassion and containment will work. As long as it is not ignored, this side effect can enable the possibility to create strengthened reflexive awareness, which in turn strengthens public trust regarding possible future interventions.

KEYWORDS
A(H1N1) Pandemic, Side Effect, Narcolepsy, Vaccination, Compassion, Containment

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Britta Lundgren , "Solidarity at the Needle Point - the Intersection of Compassion and Containment during the A(H1N1) Pandemic in Sweden 2009," Sociology and Anthropology, Vol. 4, No. 12, pp. 1108 - 1116, 2016. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2016.041210.

(b). APA Format:
Britta Lundgren (2016). Solidarity at the Needle Point - the Intersection of Compassion and Containment during the A(H1N1) Pandemic in Sweden 2009. Sociology and Anthropology, 4(12), 1108 - 1116. DOI: 10.13189/sa.2016.041210.