Immunization: How Vaccines Became Controversial

Blume (The Artificial Ear), emeritus professor of science and technology studies at the University of Amsterdam, grapples with the hot-button topic of immunization programs and public resistance to them in this persuasive, challenging chronicle of how vaccines improved human health—and the pharmaceutical industry’s bottom line—while failing to address doubts about mass inoculation. He ticks off the triumphs of inoculation, from Edward Jenner’s 1796 discovery of the cowpox vaccine to the 1980 declaration of the global eradication of smallpox to shots that now control numerous infectious diseases. But Blume also registers the doubts that have followed vaccination, including modern “vaccine hesitancy.” Blume argues that “declining confidence” in vaccination programs is a public-health problem, but one that won’t be solved with the “concepts of public health.” The mistrust “now infects public and political life more generally.” In poor regions parents feel the “mismatch” between well-funded vaccination programs and a failure “to meet their most basic healthcare needs.” Meanwhile, in wealthy nations alarmism has grown regarding the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine combination and the side effects of pertussis vaccination. Blume’s crucial history illustrates that vaccines have saved countless lives, but they must win the confidence of those who don’t recognize their universal benefit. (Oct.)