Hall was the chief caretaker of her immunocompromised mother, who sewed and donated more than 2,000 masks in the early days of the pandemic. According to Hall, capturing the moment was an important step in the direction of the anxiety that has boosted her mental health over the past year. “I shared a selfie because it was the first time I could look to the future in a year,” Hall told CNN Business.
As the deployment of vaccines has spread to more people across the country, vaccination selfies have spread across social networks and chat programs. Whether they are taken at the time of the shot, driving home or in front of an official banner on a vaccine, people celebrate and broadcast that they are doing their part to stop the spread of the virus.
Some vaccines hand out stickers, such as those received by voters at election day polls, as well as setting up selfie booths and encouraging people to share photos online with various hashtags, such as #IGotTheShotNYC and #ImABigShot.
As with any selfie, the tendency toward our desire to share positive moments in our lives tends, not to mention a certain self-promotional impulse. But the motivations behind vaccination selfies go far beyond that: it is seen as a way for the selfie-taker to let loved ones know they are safe and vaccinated, a tool to broadcast as part of an exclusive group and a possible way to help expel vaccine. skepticism in others.
For Kate Caudill, who works for the federal government on Covid relief loans and is a volunteer with the New York Medical Reserve Corps at a vaccination pool, it was important to post a selfie ‘to encourage others that I am good and confident felt ‘after the excess dose at the end of a day in January.
Partly with the aim of limiting vaccine hesitation, some vaccine sites make it easy for people to take and share selfies by setting up a background similar to what one might see during a red carpet event . Virtua Health, a non-profit healthcare system in New Jersey that vaccinated its own workforce in mid-December, was one of the organizations to follow this approach.
“From day one, we realized that our front-line employees were eager to document this important moment in their lives, which is why we created a ‘selfie station’ in the observation area of our clinic,” said Daniel Moise, director of communication, said. and involvement with Virtua Health. “It was immediately popular with most employees who stopped to take a picture.”
A month later, Virtua Health became a medical partner for one of the mega-sites in New Jersey and set up a similar station near the exit of the building. People who receive their vaccination can take photos on the way out and pose with a signature that says, “I have my COVID-19 vaccine!” and “First dose!” The facility requires people to use antibacterial wipes when handling the paddles, he added.
“Our hope is that guests should encourage their friends and family to post a photo on social media,” Moise said. “We know that there are people who are reluctant to continue with the vaccination; perhaps the reluctance through these festive photos of people they know and trust will diminish, or open the door for conversations.”
While selfie vaccines can be an example of civic action, there is also an element of exclusivity. “In this case, it also has a sense of status, as access to the vaccine is limited,” said Karen Kovacs North, professor of digital social media at Annenberg School of the University of Southern California.
“A lot of people report feeling jealous or even depressed when they see other people getting a chance and they don’t even know when they are eligible,” Klaiman said. “This is exacerbated by the inequality in the way the vaccine is delivered. People who do not have time to hunt appointments may be envious when they see that others have it.”