‘Communism is the virus. COVID-19 is how it spreads’: partisan epistemology and the medical freedom movement

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the implementation of public health measures that caused significant disruption to daily life. Consequently, these measures were met with widespread resistance. It was argued that this resistance was driven by anti-scientific attitudes, as individuals refused to comply with mask mandates and lockdowns, and later resisted vaccination efforts. This article asks whether this is an accurate characterisation of those challenging efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. To address this question, this article draws on fieldwork at medical freedom rallies. These rallies were explicitly organised to challenge policies aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. The primary finding is that rather than being a conflict between pro- and anti-scientific forces, the conflict instead largely stemmed from who can properly lay claim to the mantle of science. Attendees questioned the legitimacy of the science justifying limitations on their personal liberty and suggested that extra-scientific concerns such as a desire for political control had compromised the objectivity of public health experts. This work contributes to ongoing debates concerning institutional trust and the role of expertise in democratic governance.