“Doctors Just Don’t Care about People!” How Medical Specialists Are Depicted in a Vaccine-Critical Estonian Facebook Group

Abstract

Vaccine hesitancy as a great health risk is related to trust in healthcare providers’ recommendations and provider-parent interaction. The negative image of doctors and their motives may hinder open communication and trustful relationship. As the role of the internet as a source for health information and emotional support has become significant, social media discussions about health and medicine provide valuable opportunities to observe the formation of critical attitudes towards doctors and medicine. This article examines representations of medical specialists in an Estonian vaccine-critical public Facebook group. On the forum, doctors are depicted as dumb and blind believers who operate in a wrong paradigm and are not able to see the full and accurate picture of “real health”. According to the group rhetoric, doctors’ willingness to help parents and children is limited as they depend on a broader exploitive medical system or Big Pharma. As medical specialists are not trustworthy and do not take any responsibility, parents feel that they must closely control all the actions. The group members believe that it is better not tell the truth to doctors and, if necessary, to threaten them with law enforcement. Many of the forum posts are very emotional, illustrating the heavy burden parents perceive in taking vaccine-related decisions. The ridiculing of medical specialists has an empowering effect on patients to feel more in control. Forum posts emphasize common belonging and shared concerns. Therefore, social media is not only a stage for vaccine information but an active factor contributing to the circulation of meanings and enabling emotional support and community formation.