Edinburgh Napier University

  Vaccine ‘hesitancy’, seen as delays or refusals, are a serious public health issue. The global pandemic with COVID-19 and high mortality rates have made vaccination a priority. Frontline health workers in the United Kingdom have been depicted as ‘heroes’ of this pandemic. In this photo essay narrative, I will explore some of the multiple and contradictory meanings of vaccination in the context of COVID-19 that health workers may face. Health workers face a dual role in being depicted as frontline first recipients of vaccination due to their job roles, but also as vaccine advocates, as their own views on vaccination might be sought by the public. How they negotiate these (professional) roles and (personal) vaccine tensions, in light of their own possible vaccine hesitancy, will be explored through metaphors and inspirations from media reporting.