Vaccine wars. La costruzione mediatica dei “novax” tra infodemia, scientismo e stigmatizzazione

This chapter examines how Italian mainstream media and institutional communication contributed to constructing the figure of the “novax” during the Covid-19 pandemic, turning vaccination debates into a broader cultural conflict. Through qualitative interviews with unvaccinated individuals and vaccine-hesitant citizens, the authors show how war metaphors, the infodemic narrative and the dramatization of scientific debate fostered polarisation and moral stigmatisation. Media discourses, shaped by scientistic assumptions and a tendency to oversimplify scientific controversies, rendered heterogeneous attitudes towards vaccination invisible and reinforced distrust in institutions, science and journalism. The chapter argues that these dynamics not only weakened public debate but also proved ineffective—sometimes counterproductive—in promoting vaccination, generating backfire effects and reinforcing oppositional identities. Moving beyond war-like frames is essential to address the cultural dimensions of vaccine hesitancy and to foster more inclusive and dialogic public communication.