Across Philadelphia, approximately 80% of adults are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. However, many zip codes in the city remain far below the city-wide vaccination rate. These zip codes correspond to marginalized sections of the city and to neighborhoods with a high proportion of residents of color and high levels of poverty. In-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from 15 community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve such communities in the city to (1) learn why people are not yet vaccinated and (2) evaluate methods for encouraging vaccination. A qualitative thematic analysis of interview transcripts was conducted to evaluate why people are not getting vaccinated. Together, the findings suggest that distrust toward the vaccine, the government, and the healthcare system, combined with a host of matters considered by residents to be more urgent—such as missing work, cost concerns, and concerns around presenting identification—result in what might be better described as vaccine postponement rather than vaccine refusal. For many, vaccination is simply not a priority. The findings from this analysis illuminate some of the lesser discussed reasons for vaccination delay and provide insights into how to promote vaccinations both for the current Covid pandemic and for future vaccination efforts.
Social movements respond and adapt to the social and historical environment, and global connections have allowed activists to envision an array of alternatives. This has led present-day movements toward autonomous practices, such as non-hierarchical leadership, prefigurative politics, and decentralizing Western perspectives. Autonomous movements’ communication and media projects are formed by these political ideals and epistemologies, dependent upon their contextual situation. Such movements see change as inevitable and rigidity and dogmatism as stifling to the political imagination. Despite criticisms leveled against autonomous practices from other leftist political paradigms, these prefigured alternatives create change in the small and ephemeral ways available to them. This research outlines the political parameters of many current social movements, offering a framework by which to study grassroots media endeavors.
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