Building National Identity via Immunity

Abstract

Abstract This research investigates the impact of “not burdening the state” as a practice of national identity on vaccine implementation in China’s response to COVID-19. The study shows how vaccination provides a pathway for some Chinese citizens to practice “immunity national identity,” creating solidarity by invoking individual obligation toward the collective and the state. In this process, the science of vaccines is politicized, contributing to the building of a sense of belonging to and identification with the state. By showing how the immunized and vaccinated body works as a site generating the community of the nation-state, this research argues that immunity, residing beyond the healthy body and entangled with national identity, becomes a means of strengthening and imagining “us.” This paper shows how the sense of belonging to the nation interacts with vaccine-related information, influencing individuals’ willingness to accept vaccines, and how the act of vaccination and public knowledge about vaccines further shape national identity.