Image: Instagram/@themarcjacobs via ETX Studio
They are becoming ever more frequent in our feeds. Sometimes they are taken right during the crucial moment itself. Sometimes they’re taken afterwards, showing a vaccination card (though that’s ill-advised) or an arm with a bandage as proof and badge of honor.
The vaccination selfie has already been a thing for a few months now, but as vaccination roll-out programs get more inclusive and comprehensive, you’re bound to be seeing more and more in your social channels. And like most any social media phenomenon, there are feel-good vibes, FOMO, backlash and socioeconomic complexities all mixed in.
This week, two big names added their vaccination selfies to the mass.
Both Marc Jacobs and Dolly Parton posted images of themselves getting the jab; both were carefully attired for the occasion and both were flaunting their shoulders. And since it is an event, and also, for many, one of the few big outings they have had in the past year, many people are dressing up in a trend Mel magazine has dubbed “vaxcore.”
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Many women, like Parton, have chosen shoulder-revealing tops, while some men like Marc Jacobs have carefully arranged their shirts to reveal their biceps. France’s health minister Olivier Véran posted a pic of himself getting the AstraZeneca jab in a much commented-on post that attracted headlines about his gym-toned physique.
The posts testify to the vaccinated’s sense of relief and even joy; in many such posts the vaccine has taken on a symbolic meaning. The message is that it’s a sign that we will get back to normal life. There is also of course a public message at play in such posts; the person posting is saying, “I endorse the vaccine,” a positive message that can help convince the vaccine-hesitant. As the Washington Post points out, the vaccine selfie makes it normative, much like the posts people make on voting day, “I voted,” now it is “I’m vaccinated.” The pride is similar and encapsulates the notion that this act is both for the individual and the community.
