‘It’s not something that you just do:’ A qualitative analysis of emotion and risk in family decision-making about childhood COVID-19 vaccination

Deciding to get children vaccinated against COVID-19 is not something families ‘just do’ in contexts where neoliberal values shape social norms and governance. Vaccination decisions are socially situated, involve multiple actors, and require careful consideration of competing risks in relation to expectations of ‘good’ parents. Informed by theoretical approaches to emotion and risk, our study contributes to understanding parents’ perspectives of their own and children’s roles in vaccination decision-making in the neoliberal context of Canada. We analysed semi-structured interviews with 48 parents with at least one child over 11-years-old using a feminist discourse analysis approach. We apply theory about emotion and risk to map participant accounts onto three cultural expectations of ‘good’ parents that were consistent with neoliberal values during the pandemic. First, we found participants reiterated discourses about individualised responsibility when describing vaccine risk assessment with or for children within family units. Second, they reflected on pandemic constraints, which were in tension with expectations for individualised risk management – for example, collective responsibility to get vaccinated, social pressure, and blame. Third, participants evidenced socialising children towards supposedly rational and individualised choices. We conclude by discussing how the ways families do vaccine decision-making are structured by and reproductive of neoliberal values, reproducing widespread acceptance of governmental deferral of responsibility for communal health threats onto individuals.