Pandemic Totalitarianisms, Limit Situations and Forced Vaccinations

Abstract

In this article, I critically discuss the politics of forced and mandatory vaccination that is being now promoted in certain countries as a means for overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic. I canvass my critique through Karl Jaspers' notion of a "limit situation" and through references to Ionesco's plays Rhinoceros and Jeux de Massacre both of which concern hygienic, existential and political dystopias. My aim is to explore and chastise the pandemic totalitarianisms that are now spreading in the world and revolve around the "vaccinated versus the unvaccinated" polarization.