Conclusions

Abstract

The case study of H1N1 shows that the initial definition of a disease event can have wide-ranging impacts. This act of definition was underpinned by complex social mechanisms which collectively formed an attempt to constitute a pandemic event as a scientific fact. Though most such facts appear as objective realities, since scientific closure has been achieved, in some cases the attempted construction of a fact is fragile and unstable, leading to their contestation. In such cases, the socially constructed nature of scientific facts becomes more apparent; the assumptions behind the phenomenon become unravelled through the act of contestation. Prior to the event of H1N1, it was generally assumed by key scientific and institutional stakeholders (including the WHO) that a pandemic event could easily be identified. However, the case of H1N1 problematized this black-boxed understanding of a pandemic as an objective and readily distinguishable scientific reality. This was evidenced by the contestation of outside actors, including the prominent voice of the Council of Europe.