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The Politics of Vaccination in Twentieth-Century America
University of California Press
October 2006
On Sale: October 5, 2006
349 pages
ISBN: 0520247493
EAN: 9780520247499
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction History
This first comprehensive history of the social and political
aspects of vaccination in the United States tells the story
of how vaccination became a widely accepted public health
measure over the course of the twentieth century. One
hundred years ago, just a handful of vaccines existed, and
only one, for smallpox, was widely used. Today more than two
dozen vaccines are in use, fourteen of which are universally
recommended for children. State of Immunity examines the
strategies that health officials have used--ranging from
advertising and public relations campaigns to laws requiring
children to be immunized before they can attend school--to
gain public acceptance of vaccines. Like any medical
intervention, vaccination carries a small risk of adverse
reactions. But unlike other procedures, it is performed on
healthy people, most commonly children, and has been
mandated by law. Vaccination thus poses unique ethical,
political, and legal questions.
James Colgrove considers how individual liberty should be
balanced against the need to protect the common welfare, how
experts should act in the face of incomplete or inconsistent
scientific information, and how the public should be
involved in these decisions. A well-researched, intelligent,
and balanced look at a timely topic, this book explores
these issues through a vivid historical narrative that
offers new insights into the past, present, and future of
vaccination.
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