The (mis)uses of community: a critical analysis of public health communication for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States

Community engagement is heralded as a panacea for the inherent political challenges of public health governance. For COVID-19 vaccination planning in the United States, appeals for community engagement emerged in response to the disproportionate mortality and morbidity burdens on marginalized groups and as a bulwark against a political climate of vaccine hesitancy, scientific disinformation, and mistrust of public health. In this article, we use a culture-centered analytical framework to critique the discursive construct of “community” within public health documents that discuss community engagement strategies for COVID-19 vaccination. Through a critical-abductive analysis of more than 400 state public health department documents, we recognized the diverse axes on which appeals to the community are framed. Our findings show that the construct of “community” refers to both a material/tangible space marked by discursive struggle and one containing a moral economy of responsibility. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of conceptualizing community in these ways.