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Babies and Boomers

Intergenerational Democracy and the Political Epidemiology of COVID-19

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Toby Rollo
Toby Rollo*
Affiliation:
Lakehead University, Canada
*
E-mail: toby.rollo@lakeheadu.ca
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Abstract

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how public health decisions in mass liberal democracies always reflect a political trade-off between protecting privileged groups and leaving more marginalized groups precariously exposed. Examining the “political epidemiology” of COVID-19, I focus on the ways that the lives and well-being of children are sacrificed to secure adult interests. I argue that in our efforts to protect older adults we have endangered children and abandoned the future of today's youth. This, I conclude, is indicative of a liberal preoccupation with adults and adult forms of agency, a defect that can only be adequately challenged by working toward more robust forms of democratic inclusion that include children and youth.

Keywords

childrencoronaviruscoviddemocracyepidemiologypandemic

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