ABSTRACT
At a challenging juncture in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic (SARS-Cov-2- COVID-19), Global Health faces one of the greatest challenges in history to control the spread of the virus, whose main characteristic is the speed of contagion and high mortality rates. Risk communication is a fundamental component of any emergency response. Analyze the risk communication strategy developed by New Zealand in response to COVID-19. Qualitative research, based on the argumentation theory seeking to understand the production of symbolic phenomena, their social role, effects and meanings of the Risk Communication Strategy (RCS) developed in New Zealand. The collection consisted of 19 publications from the official website of the New Zealand government and 7 open access videos with statements made by the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, during the period from March to December 2020. The whole documentary corpus was analyzed using webQDA content analysis. In response to COVID-19 New Zealand developed a solid RCS, in which each of the components suggested by WHO were dynamically and creatively included, with a strong focus on community/diverse actor participation and promotion of solidarity as a core value of the New Zealand society, using clear and consistent messaging. The RCS gave relevance to decisions based on the best scientific evidence, with a marked promotion of non-pharmacological interventions. Qualitative research and CAQDAS such as webQDA are fundamental tools for studying relevant topics such as risk communication, emphasising political discourse and its implications in the development of strategies to control COVID-19 and the infodemic. A modern approach to argumentation theory and the pragmatic analysis of language allows both the assessment and critique of the forms of communication in health and offer elements for the search for answers to health crises, seeking to compensate for the asymmetry of knowledge and power. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.