Immunity as Relativity: German Vaccination Campaigns and Debates in Times of COVID-19

Abstract: COVID-19 was a shock. The shutdown of entire societies was considered a historic turning point already in 2020. Vaccinations promised a way out of the crisis. Even before the vaccination campaigns began, they were seen as a weapon that would decide the war against the pandemic, even as a promise of salvation. These hopes were dashed in 2021. Vaccinations offered a relatively high level of, but not absolute, protection. Vaccinated people were still contagious and thus a risk to others. My article traces the history of this disappointment and the attempts to solve it. I focus on German debates about prioritising vaccine distribution, dealing with side effects, and debates about compulsory vaccination and increasing social pressure on the unvaccinated. Vaccination campaigns thus serve as a probe with which to examine social orders and social distortions. At the same time, I place the current developments in a historical perspective. I ask both about the historical roots of today's deb

Angaben zum Objekt

• Weitere Titel: Immunität als Relativitätstheorie: Deutsche Impfkampagnen und Debatten während der Coronapandemie
• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Immunity as Relativity: German Vaccination Campaigns and Debates in Times of COVID-19 ; volume:46 ; number:4 ; year:2021 ; pages:316-338 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 46, Heft 4 (2021), 316-338

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wo): Mannheim
• (wer): SSOAR, GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
• (wann): 2021
• Urheber: Thießen, Malte

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.46.2021.4.316-338
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022100516460873704304
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 2025-08-15T07:21:55+0200