Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only challenged global health and given rise to several controversies, but it has also had an impact on how science is regarded in a diverse and often polarized society. The challenge specifically pertains to how science is utilized to inform public policies on confronting and responding to the pandemic. Two conflicting narratives have emerged, driven by disputed values, in reaction to COVID-19. The first involves scientific experts who influence governmental policies in terms of individual and social behavior, such as face masks, social distancing, lockdowns, and vaccination. The values that animate these experts are chiefly security and safety, particularly with respect to public health. The second narrative is societal and includes individuals who are skeptical and even espouse anti-science rhetoric towards the scientific community and its experts. And many of these skeptics represent anti-maskers and anti-vaccine activists. Their values are self-direction and personal freedom. The dispute over these values represents a major challenge to the social and political responses to the pandemic. To address this challenge, post-normal science is utilized to construct a framework to bridge the two opposing narratives and their disputed values.