Social Conspiracies in Vaccine Hesitancy: Challenging Disease through Opposition and Suspicion

This study aims to understand the perspectives and experiences of people in Alanya, Türkiye, who intentionally chose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The study used Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as its methodological framework to clarify the causes of vaccine hesitancy. The primary justification for the preference for ANT lies in the multitude and intricate nature of actors within the network of vaccine hesitancy. Through a qualitative research design, the study conducted in-depth interviews with the individuals who intentionally chose not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Alanya. In the first phase, the text identified the key actors and intermediaries involved and how they participate in the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy network. After analysing the key actors and intermediaries involved in the network of vaccine hesitancy, we attempted to identify the mediators that transform the meaning or elements that actors seek to convey. Identifying mediators helped us to examine how key actors and intermediaries participate in the network and around which realities they come together. In this aspect, we have identified four mediators when analysing the network of vaccine hesitancy in the context of ANT: laboratory, pandemic, media, and knowledge. Our findings identify the actors/actants that have come to the fore in the COVID-19 pandemic and played an active role in the vaccination process and reveal how they reinforce and complicate the network of vaccine hesitancy. Our article is a pioneering study in the field of medical sociology in terms of analysing the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy using ANT.