Vaccine hesitancy and the politicization of immunization practices on Twitter

The growing availability of vaccines in 2021 to counter the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has not been exempt from the phenomenon of "vaccine hesitancy", a broad category that includes both the no-vax ideological discourse, and a skeptical or fearful attitude towards the vaccines. While public visibility of vaccine hesitancy has grown with the adoption of Green Pass policies in several EU countries, what consequences can be expected from a law or decree making Covid vaccination mandatory? Analyzing discussions on Twitter about an earlier enactment of mandatory vaccination in Italy, this research note considers how public health policies can affect social media opinion on vaccination practices. The findings suggest that such vaccination laws may further increase the visibility of the anti-vax discourse on social media, due to the politicization and mediatization of the issue, with broader potential implications for public health and policy making.