State of Immunity

by Colgrove, James

• ISBN13: 9780520247499
• ISBN10: 0520247493
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

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 Immunityexamines 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.

Author Biography

James Colgrove is Associate Research Scientist at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Foreword by Daniel M. Fox and Samuel L. Milbank	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Vaccination Politics and Law in American History	1	(16)
1. Between Persuasion and Compulsion: Vaccination at the Turn of the Twentieth Century	17	(28)
2. Science in a Democracy: Smallpox Vaccination in the Progressive Era and the 1920's	45	(68)
3. Diphtheria Immunization: The Power, and the Limits, of Persuasion 8r
4. Hard Cores and Soft Spots: Selling the Polio Vaccine	113	(36)
5. Eradicationism and Its Discontents	149	(37)
6. Consent, Compulsion, and Compensation: Vaccination Programs in Crisis	186	(67)
7. Expansion and Backlash: Vaccination at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century 2 r	r8
Notes	253	(62)
Archival Sources	315	(2)
Index	317