HSR Forum - Caring in Times of a Global Pandemic (ed. Emma Dowling, Ayse Dursn, Syntia Hasenöhrl, Verena Kettner & Birgit Sauer)
This HSR Forum investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures to contain it in a cross-national perspective with regard to the areas of care, social reproduction, and affective security policies. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an existing crisis across different unpaid and paid domains of care and social reproduction. It revealed just who exactly keeps life going by doing the jobs that no society can do without. The management of the pandemic relied on significant swathes of unpaid or underpaid care work without sufficient consideration of the conditions under which this work is carried out and without providing sufficient resources and support. Self-organised practices of care and mutual aid in the pandemic potentially pointed to the possibilities of more progressive or even radical care infrastructures, while public welfare, health, and social care systems were vital in responding adequately and inclusively to the pandemic. In the wake of the pandemic, a key question is how capitalist economies will adjust, and how the pandemic may act as a catalyst for change. This volume brings together nine theoretical and empirical articles investigating the coronavirus pandemic and the containment measures implemented in eight different countries: Austria, Germany, Mali, UK, Greece, Serbia, India, and Turkey.

HSR Forum - Vaccination and Society. A History from Smallpox to COVID-19 in Germany (Malte Thießen)
Vaccination is never just about the health of the individual, but always about society as a whole: Who is particularly worthy of protection, who is a particular threat? Who decides on the allocation of vaccines? And who decides about the body – the state or the individual? In this HSR Forum, Malte Thießen traces the social preconditions and consequences of vaccination programmes in Germany over the course of more than 150 years. The first contribution traces the history of vaccination in the 19th and 20th centuries, while the second focuses on current developments and vaccination programmes against COVID-19. The history of vaccination thus provides insights into social change in modern times with all its ambivalences. On the one hand, vaccinations offered a great promise of safety; on the other hand, vaccinations fuelled new concerns.