Manufacturing Consent for Vaccine Mandates: A Comparative Case Study of Communication Campaigns in France and Australia

Katie Attwell,Jeremy K Ward,Sian Tomkinson

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2021.598602

Abstract

Governments making childhood vaccination more mandatory is controversial, and can be met with pushback from the public. Hence such policies may be accompanied by some form of communication to manufacture consent for either vaccination, mandatory vaccination policies, or both. This paper engages in case studies of two countries which recently made vaccination more mandatory and accompanied this policy change with concerted communication campaigns. It examines the French and Australian governments’ new mandatory vaccination regimes, the communication strategies undertaken to manufacture consent for them, and the complex ways these policies interact. The analytical focus is the content of the websites at the center of the communications campaigns, “Vaccination-Info-Service” and “Get the Facts,” as well as relevant academic articles, government press releases, documents and reports, and key informant interviews conducted in both countries. We report three key findings. First, we demonstrate how both countries’ governance strategies intertwine persuasion with coercion in complex ways. Second, we examine how each country’s website reflects local constructions of under-vaccination, especially regarding social groups and motivations. Third, we consider their vastly different communication styles and how these reflect alternative ways of constructing the public as well as differences in the use of communication expertise in the websites’ production. These factors produce different tactics regarding manufacturing consent for vaccination and for vaccine mandates. We conclude that manufacturing consent for vaccination is a laudable exercise, but find that the involvement of numerous actors and institutions results in various interests, objectives, and conceptions of what drives audience reception, resulting in divergent strategies. This is particularly the case when it comes to manufacturing consent for vaccine mandates themselves; a more complex task that relies on strong understandings of community, knowledge, and effective channels of state power.

Highlights

GOVERNING VACCINE ACCEPTANCE – MANDATES AND COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNSParental refusal of childhood vaccines is a problematic issue for governments
We investigate the communication strategies that Australia and France have employed in concert with their new mandatory vaccination regimes, and the complex ways in which they interact to manufacture consent for vaccines and vaccine mandates
We demonstrated three possible readings of the relationship between mandates and the communication campaign in each country – mandates enable communications, mandates cause communications, and mandates are communications

Summary

Introduction

Parental refusal of childhood vaccines is a problematic issue for governments. Under-vaccination is a complex and multi-faceted problem, with parental attitudes not the only driver (Dubé et al, 2013; Bedford et al, 2018). While vaccine refusal captures the headlines, populations facing access problems can account for an even greater proportion of under-vaccinated children (Beard et al, 2016). Governments need to provide supply-side support, including free and readily available vaccines, and ensure that they are developing appropriately targeted promotional messages to motivate populations to avail themselves (Omer et al, 2019). Populations need continual reminders that vaccines are safe, effective and necessary, and can benefit from SMS prompts and healthcare worker encouragement (Leask et al, 2014). Healthcare workers may need supporting or upskilling to become better vaccine advocates (Kaufman et al, 2019)

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Conclusion