The concept highlights the intersection of health, capitalism, and power, demonstrating how social and economic inequalities are exacerbated by epidemics.
[1] Santa Clara University anthropologist Mythri Jegathesan states the term was first coined by Stanford historian Kathryn Olivarius.
In both works, Olivarius argues that white New Orleans elites exploited the disease to their advantage, creating a system where immunity, or the lack thereof, became a form of capital.
Those who were 'acclimated' to yellow fever, having survived the disease, were granted a form of social and economic capital, while the 'unacclimated', often marginalized groups, were exploited and seen as expendable.
[2][3] It was further used during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Assistant Director of the Britain-based Nuffield Council on Bioethics Pete Mills declaring in a June 2020 report on the "Ethics of immunity testing" that "Economic incentives invite 'immunocapitalism'".