Unvaccinated, Just Like Everybody Else. Vaccine Hesitancy in a Romanian Religious Community

Vaccine hesitancy was a widespread phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic. It held back large-scale immunization in countries where vaccines were available and it aggravated the pandemic. The way we understand vaccine hesitancy in postmodern societies emphasizes individual risks, reflexivity, and patients making informed decisions. But how is vaccine hesitancy experienced in traditional communities? We explored answers to this question through ethnographic interviews conducted in the least vaccinated village in Romania. In this Pentecostal community, vaccination decisions were made at the community level, where an informal norm of vaccine refusal was dominant. This norm emerged through two types of interactions – local and mediated interactions – as collective discussions were centred on religious interpretations of Biblical fragments and on information from TV shows and social media about the adverse effects of vaccines. People formed symbolic alliances with influential actors in their community who were unvaccinated, such as the mayor and the pastor, and with citizens from Western European countries who also refused COVID-19 vaccination. Mainstream fears of vaccination were expressed during the interviews, concerning paralysis and death resulting from vaccination and mistrust in official authorities. Vaccination accentuated pre-existing differences in status, demarcating people with a high level of education working at the village hall, who were vaccinated, from those with a lower socio-economic status, who were not vaccinated.