Streetwise Vaccination? Bio-Politics Downtown Montreal

Streetwise Vaccination? Bio-Politics Downtown Montreal

The research here presented was initiated to understand how a marginal population would best comply to a foreseen vaccination campaign against hepatitis C virus (HCV). More interestingly it became about understanding broader perceptions of the role of vaccines, in particular the views of injecting drug users (IDUs) considered most at risk of HCV. We also consulted humanitarians, health professionals and scientists who partake in implementing these bio-politics. Our multi-sited ethnography is set in various streets, clinics and laboratories downtown Montreal (Canada). The legitimacy of the vaccine as able to provide universal immunity shows to rely on varying concepts of the body, disease and most of all on different concerns about ‘what really matters’.