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anddiagnostics,alordability,equality,andequity),mayalecttheelectivenessand
credibilityofadvocates.
Infact,thenotuncommonshortageofdiagnosticsandtreatmentsinHIVand
otherchronicillnesseswhereregularandreliabletreatmentisessentialtosavingor
improvinglifehasalsobecomeapoliticalfactorandanargumentfortheengage-
mentofpatientsinpolicyandpolitics.Examplesofsuchinvolvementareabun-
dant,fromthefieldsoftuberculosis,hepatitisBandC,HIV,andsomecancers
thatcanbe“chronified”throughtreatment(e.g.metastaticbreastcancer,chronic
myeloidleukaemia,chroniclymphoblasticleukaemia).9
SomethingverysimilarhasemergedinthecontextofCOVID-19andvac-
cination.Toserefusingtogetvaccinatedareconsideredirresponsibleand“bad
citizens”whoputatrisknotonlytheirownhealthbutalsothatofothers.Te
achievementofherdimmunityagainstCOVID-19hasbecomeasupremescien-
tificandpoliticalgoal,nowintegratedintothepublicdiscourse.Notunlikewith
HIV,peopleexposedtoCOVID-19havebeenencouragedtobehaveresponsibly
andputthemselvesintoquarantinetocurbthespreadingofthevirus.
Anti-vaccinationmovementsandtheirconsistentoverlapswithsomeanti-es-
tablishmentandpoliticallyradical,anarchistmovementsareacaseinpoint(Belg-
haus,amOrdeandJakob2020).Teirresistanceispoliticalandconcernshowthey
understandandinterpretcitizenship.Althoughbiopoliticalinnature,thisresist-
anceisaimedatcommunicatingamessageofdiscontentwiththepoliticalsystem
andestablishment.Ofen,anti-vaccinedemonstrationsandstatementsareconflat-
edwithmessagesthatareclearlydirectedagainstgovernmentsandmembersofthe
politicalandfinancial/commercialestablishment(likepharmaceuticalcompanies).
Notably,thesesocialmovementsandtheirrhetorictakerecoursetopasttopoilike
antisemitism(againstthe“financialestablishment”),fascism(thedemandforau-
thoritarianresponses),andxenophobia(foreignersaretoblameforthepandemic).
TeCOVID-19pandemichasbroughttotheforesomeimportantaspectsof
citizenship,highlightingstronglythatcitizenshipiscomposednotonlyofrightsbut
alsoofobligations.Apparently,noteverybodyisreadyorwillingtoassumethese,
justashasbeenthecaseinHIVfromthebeginning.Somepeoplehaverefused
togettestedortotaketreatmentforthesamepoliticalreasons,thusdemonstrat-
ingtheiranti-establishmentcriticism,evenifitpotentiallyendangerstheirlives.
However,unlikeinthecaseoftheHIV/AIDSmovement,theCOVID-19-related
protestsandresistancemovementshavebeenalotmoreexplicit,withcontrover-
sialcontentslikeanti-sciencesentiments,antisemitism,andfascism.Moreresearch
9
Chronificationisatermwidelyusedinpaintherapyandpainmanagement.Itreferstotheprocesswhen
acuteandsometimesuntreatablepainisreducedtotolerablelevelsandchronicpainthroughcontinuous
treatment;asimilardevelopmentisexpectedforlongCOVID-19(Venkatesan2021).
ContagiousCitizens
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