Antibiotics as a symbolic framework for articulating healthcare attitudes and legitimising parental choices in narratives of vaccine-hesitant parents

This article explores the role of antibiotics as a symbolic tool in the narratives of vaccine-hesitant parents in the Czech Republic. Based on in-depth interviews with 53 parents, the study examines how references to antibiotics and antibiotic prescribing are incorporated into vaccination strategy narratives and explores the interlinkage between attitudes towards vaccination and antibiotics and how antibiotics are positioned by vaccine-hesitant parents as a powerful marker for articulating health-related beliefs and parental medical authority. Three distinct ways in which references to antibiotics were incorporated into vaccine-hesitant narratives were identified during the analysis. First, antibiotic prescribing was framed as a measure of healthcare quality, influencing how parents evaluated and selected paediatricians for their children. Second, antibiotics functioned as a symbolic marker for communicating the superiority of vaccine-hesitant health strategies, with parents contrasting their cautious, self-reliant approach with conventional biomedical practices. Finally, antibiotics were used as a reference point for legitimising vaccine hesitancy, reinforcing broader critiques of pharmaceutical interventions and mainstream medical authority.