We had to do what we thought was right at the time

Retrospective discourse on the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the UK

Bibliographic Data

ID2248781
AuthorsMark D M Davis (0000-0003-4075-0466, Monash University), Mark Davis (0000-0001-5886-4790, School of Political and Social Inquiry Monash University Melbourne Australia), Paul Flowers (0000-0001-6239-5616, Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow UK), Niamh Stephenson (0000-0001-8105-1931, Faculty of Medicine University of New South Wales Sydney Australia)
Year2014
Volume36
Issue3
Pages369-382
Publication date2014-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1467-9566.12056
PMID23957299
OpenAlexW2050694660
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited24

For a few weeks in 2009 it was not certain whether the world faced a lethal influenza pandemic. As it turned out, the H1N1 pandemic was less severe than anticipated, though the infection did affect groups not usually susceptible to influenza. The deep uncertainties of this pandemic moment were associated with immense practical, scientific and political challenges for public health agencies around the world. We examine these challenges by drawing on the sociology of uncertainty to analyse the accounts given by UK public health practitioners who managed local responses to the pandemic. We discuss the retrospective and mitigating discourse; 'we had to do what we thought was right at the time', used by interviewees to explain their experience of articulating plans for a severe pandemic influenza with one that turned out to be mild. We explore the importance of influenza's history and imagined future for pandemic management and, relatedly, how pandemic response and control plans disrupted the normal ways in which public health exercises its authority. We conclude by suggesting that difficulties in the management of pandemic influenza lie in its particular articulation of precautions, that is, securing a safe future against that which cannot be predicted

Articulation (sociology · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Disease · Infectious disease (medical specialty · Influenza pandemic · Pandemic · Pathology · Political science · Politics · Public health · Public relations · Sociology · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Public Health Policies and Education