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Since 2007, the number of HIV diagnoses in Turkey has increased more than 600% and the AIDS-related deaths have more than doubled. Despite trans community being severely impacted by the growing epidemic, there exists a conspicuous absence of epidemiological data regarding the HIV burden of trans people. This paper examines the medical experiences of HIV-positive trans women who engage in sex work and the harmful violence they encounter at the hands of health providers. The paper emphasizes the urgent need for comprehensive interventions to address the intersecting issues of HIV risk, structural violence, and discrimination faced by HIV-positive trans sex workers, one of the most marginalized communities worldwide. To interpret better how transphobia and HIVphobia become deeply entangled in Turkish medical settings, the paper draws from the concepts of iatrogenesis , necropolitics, and immunity. By bringing together these conceptual tools with long-term ethnographic data and in-depth interviews, this paper demonstrates that trans women are treated by healthcare providers as though they are always-already infectious. The paper contends that aggressive immunitarian boundaries, erected between healthcare personnel and individuals deemed "contagious others," are central to doctors' denial of medical care and reluctance to touch, examine, or even admit trans patients, particularly when they are HIV-positive. • Social immunization lies at the core of doctors' refusal of care for trans patients. • Social immunization is central to the operation of necropolitics and iatrogenesis. • Doctors establish violent boundaries in an attempt to "protect" themselves. • Trans women are assumed to be inherently contagious by healthcare providers. • Trans communities are slowly debilitated through denial of healthcare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether individualism weakens the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expansions in the United States in 2021, and assesses the associated social benefits or costs associated with individualism. We construct a county-level composite individualism index as a proxy of culture and the fraction of vaccine eligible population as a proxy of vaccination campaign (mean: 41.34%). We estimate whether the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility policy is less effective in promoting vaccine coverage, reducing in COVID-19 related hospitalization and death using a linear two-way fixed effect model in a sample of 2866 counties for the period between early December 2020 and July 1, 2021. We also test whether individualism shapes people's attitudes towards vaccine using a linear probability model in a sample of 625,308 individuals aged 18–65 (mean age: 43.3; 49% male; 59.1% non-Hispanic white, 19.1% Hispanic, 12% African American; 5.9% Asian) from the Household Pulse Survey. The effects of expanded vaccine eligibility are diminished in counties with greater individualism, as evidenced by lower effectiveness in increasing vaccination rates and reducing outpatient doctor visits primarily for COVID-related symptoms and COVID deaths. Moreover, our results show that this cultural influence on attitudes towards vaccine is more pronounced among the less educated, but unrelated to race. Assuming an average level of vaccine eligibility policies and an average intensity of individualism across the nation, we calculate that the average social cost associated with an individualistic culture amid the pandemic is approximately $50.044 billion, equivalent to 1.32% of the total U.S. health care spending in 2019. Our paper suggests that strategies to promote public policy compliance should be tailored to accommodate cultural and social contexts. • We examine whether individualism weakens effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine policies. • The effects of vaccine policy are diminished in counties with greater individualism. • Individuals have less trust in COVID-19 vaccine in a more individualistic culture. • Strategies to promote policy compliance should be tailored to accommodate cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Covid-19 was not the first pandemic, it was unique in the scale and intensity with which societies responded. Countries reacted differently to the threat posed by the new virus. The public health crisis affected European societies in many ways. It also influenced the way the media portrayed vaccines and discussed factors related to vaccine hesitancy. Europeans differed in their risk perceptions, attitudes towards vaccines and vaccine uptake. In European countries, Covid-19-related discourses were at the centre of media attention for many months. This paper reports on a media analysis which revealed significant differences as well as some similarities in the media debates in different countries. The study focused on seven European countries and considered two dimensions of comparison: between the pre-Covid period and the beginning of the Covid pandemic period, and between countries. The rich methodological approach, including linguistics, semantic field analysis and discourse analysis of mainstream news media, allowed the authors to explore the set of meanings related to vaccination that might influence actors' agency. This approach led the authors to redefine vaccine hesitancy in terms of characteristics of the "society in the situation" rather than the psychological profile of individuals. We argue that vaccine hesitancy can be understood in terms of agency and temporality. This dilemma of choice that transforms the present into an irreversible past and must be taken in relation to an uncertain future, is particularly acute under the pressure of urgency and when someone's health is at stake. As such, it is linked to how vaccine meaning is co-produced within public discourses. • Vaccine hesitancy is co-produced by media discourses. • Covid-19 caused a shift in European vaccine discourses. • Discursive shift from prevention (future) to effective vaccine distribution (now). • Vaccine hesitancy is mediated through temporal structures in agents' orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the approvals of several vaccines against COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, a large body of research has studied the determinants of individuals' intention to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in a variety of societies. Vaccine intention is a complex construct rooted in the social context that informs the decision-making process. The underlying reasons for older adults' intention to receive the vaccination is even more important to health authorities in societies with large proportions of older adults. In this paper, we interview 27 women over age 55 in Singapore about their COVID-19 vaccine decision-making. Using a social-ecological framework of trust, we identify factors at both individual and institutional levels that build or undermine trust and underlie older women's decisions to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in an authoritarian regime. Findings show that both interpersonal trust and institutional trust contribute to vaccine uptake, however, trust can also contribute to delays in vaccination. Moreover, a sizable minority of respondents report that they were vaccinated not because of institutional trust, but because they felt compelled to do so. The results shed light on directions for future vaccination campaigns. • We focus on older women in an authoritarian state. • We adopt a social-ecological framework of trust. • Both interpersonal trust and institutional trust contribute to vaccine uptake as well as delays in vaccination. • This study provides policy implications for future vaccination campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]