ARTIST STATEMENT:

For many years in the UK there have been public announcements made advising people to go to their GP's to get their flu jabs. Then in 2009 there was worldwide hysteria when the threat of swine flu and the inability to get the flu vaccine itself became global news. Was the population going to die on the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak?

Luckily the 2009 strain threat subsided and to the general public, in their minds the threat of an avian spread flu went away. Now in 2020 we have Covid-19, a very real worldwide pandemic.

So in 2010 decided to take photos of myself getting my flu jab it was in part to take my mind off what was happening, but in part remind myself of the importance of why I am doing this.  The nurse who administered it said they had never had anyone do this before! I understand why people are scared at the mere thought of needles and of contracting a serious disease. Vaccinations, blood samples, or having any medicine administered via hypodermic syringe are not pleasant. Intellectually I know these are vaccinations are necessary.  On a visceral level however, I have never personally contracted any of these diseases so my body revolts at the pain and violation of a needle being stuck in me. There are of course no 100% guarantees with any medicine that there will be no side effects, that too is a worry.  The same is true of the MMR vaccine, yet in the MMR case there are alternative choices. It takes three times the amount of injections to get them administered individually for Mumps, Measles and Rubella .Have we now therefore developed such a phobia and distrust that we recoil instinctively when we are told that "this shot will be good for you"?

Will people want to take a vaccine for Covid-19 when and if it is successfully developed?