Normative Layers in the Embodied Experience: Phenomenological Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Description

The global vaccination progress have faced serious challenges both in Latvia and worldwide. One of the issue was growing scepticism about the usefulness and safety of vaccination, known as vaccine hesitancy as it is defined by WHO. Our ongoing study is focused on motives and reasons of delay in acceptance of vaccines in the context of embodied experience. Phenomenological inquiry into the subject could provide more in-depth, accurate and comprehensive explanation of vaccine hesitancy, understood in the embodied existence of the decision-making subject.This research is funded by the Latvian Council of Science, project Hesitant bodies: phenomenological analysis of the embodied experience of vaccine hesitancy, project No. lzp-2021/1-0360.. The study is conducted as a qualitative empirical research which integrates semi-structured in-depth interview within the framework of phenomenological methodology, using approach called ‘Phenomenological interview’. As for now we have finished data collection phase (16 interviews) and data analysis phase, it is possible present some preliminary findings on the embodied aspects of vaccine hesitancy.. In this paper I will focus on the concepts of normality/normativity as a key feature in explaining vaccine hesitancy. According to phenomenology a norm is not an objective category or a statistical average, it is rather described as an integral part of habitual experience. One can distinguish two essential aspects of normality in phenomenology: (1) embodied normality which originates in the subjective experience, (2) intersubjective normality which is embodied through the collective socio-cultural norms. Our study shows that covid-19 pandemics and the following vaccination campaigns interrupt with both embodied and intersubjective normality thus affecting decision-making process on the issue of vaccine acceptance.. Our study presents empirical evidence that embodied experience plays a crucial role in vaccine hesitancy, therefore it should not be disregarded in the public communications about necessity of vaccination against covid-19 and other diseases.

Period	30 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU research week 2023: University Teaching and Learning
Event type	Conference
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Riga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International