“Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands

In developed European Union (EU) countries, migrants are thought to be less likely to have their children fully vaccinated. To investigate this idea, this study examines parental perceptions of child vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 42 Serbian...

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Main Author: Brujić Marija
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2024-03-01
Series:Comparative Southeast European Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2023-0014
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author Brujić Marija
author_facet Brujić Marija
author_sort Brujić Marija
collection DOAJ
description In developed European Union (EU) countries, migrants are thought to be less likely to have their children fully vaccinated. To investigate this idea, this study examines parental perceptions of child vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 42 Serbian migrants in the Netherlands, conducted in the summer of 2020. The aim was to determine if the pandemic changed these parents’ attitudes towards the Dutch healthcare system and vaccination in general. The paper’s theoretical framework juxtaposes a “risk society” approach with a governmentality approach. The majority of the parents surveyed had had their children vaccinated according to the Dutch national vaccination programme. However, the study shows that many Serbian migrants had negative attitudes towards the then forthcoming SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. I therefore conclude that new vaccines, such as the Covid-19 vaccine, act as risk technologies which create a new “risk environment” rather than being perceived as preventive health measures.
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spelling doaj-art-be68682558ea437fbb1dca264dd3e3e12025-08-20T02:42:59ZengDe GruyterComparative Southeast European Studies2701-81992701-82022024-03-017218310310.1515/soeu-2023-0014“Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the NetherlandsBrujić Marija0Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, SerbiaIn developed European Union (EU) countries, migrants are thought to be less likely to have their children fully vaccinated. To investigate this idea, this study examines parental perceptions of child vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is based on semi-structured interviews with 42 Serbian migrants in the Netherlands, conducted in the summer of 2020. The aim was to determine if the pandemic changed these parents’ attitudes towards the Dutch healthcare system and vaccination in general. The paper’s theoretical framework juxtaposes a “risk society” approach with a governmentality approach. The majority of the parents surveyed had had their children vaccinated according to the Dutch national vaccination programme. However, the study shows that many Serbian migrants had negative attitudes towards the then forthcoming SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. I therefore conclude that new vaccines, such as the Covid-19 vaccine, act as risk technologies which create a new “risk environment” rather than being perceived as preventive health measures.https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2023-0014covid-19 vaccinechildhood vaccinationmigrantsriskgovernmentality
spellingShingle Brujić Marija
“Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
Comparative Southeast European Studies
covid-19 vaccine
childhood vaccination
migrants
risk
governmentality
title “Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
title_full “Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
title_fullStr “Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
title_full_unstemmed “Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
title_short “Till Corona Sets Us Apart”: Emerging Vaccination Risks among Serbian Parents in the Netherlands
title_sort till corona sets us apart emerging vaccination risks among serbian parents in the netherlands
topic covid-19 vaccine
childhood vaccination
migrants
risk
governmentality
url https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2023-0014
work_keys_str_mv AT brujicmarija tillcoronasetsusapartemergingvaccinationrisksamongserbianparentsinthenetherlands