Description
The coronavirus pandemic that began in 2019 brought to the fore the presence of a significant minority of individuals who strongly oppose vaccination. This opposition is by no means recent. Ever since the very first attempts to immunize individuals, opposition has been intense in some societies. The reasons for this opposition range from religious to political to medical. Although vaccines have eliminated smallpox and largely eliminated polio and measles, opposition to vaccination persists and, in some countries, has grown stronger.A History of Vaccines and Their Opponents seeks to describe the history of this opposition as well as its changing rationale over the years and in different societies. The discussion may ultimately provide some suggestions for reducing hesitancy in the future.- Demonstrates vaccine hesitancy is not new and is widespread around the world- Presents the history of the opposition to immunization- Provides counterarguments to the opposition today
Table of Contents
1. How vaccines work2. Medical science at the beginning of the 18th century3. Variolation: the early years in Britain and Europe4. Variolation in New England5. Variolation and American independence6. The introduction of vaccination in Britain and Europe7. The introduction of vaccination to America8. Making vaccination compulsory in Britain and Europe9. Vaccine mandates in the United States10. Anti-inoculation and anti-vaccination riots11. The Supreme Court weighs in12. The rise of anti-vaccine societies in Britain13. Anti-vaccination movements in the United States and Canada14. Medical liberty and vaccination15. Developments and dead ends in immunology16. Antibacterial vaccines and their opponents17. Polio vaccines and their opponents18. Measles, mumps, and rubella: three contentious virus diseases19. Safety and sexual promiscuity: hepatitis B, human papilloma virus, and influenza vaccines20. COVID-19: politics and disinformation21. Religious objections to vaccination22. Rational hesitancy: situations where hesitancy is and was appropriate
