Public health officials themselves disseminate the war mentality with the repeated message: We are at war with an invisible enemy that must be eradicated. War mentality emphasizes the need for self-sacrifice in order to stop Covid-19 spread. And the weapons of war are glorified; public health authorities glorify its chief weapon of vaccination.
A further examination of the public health response to Covid-19 reveals a deeper problem: the metaphor of war and the assumption of vaccine fundamentalism has long been part of the public health mindset.