Beskrivelse
Contemporary discussions of vaccine resistance in the press often insinuate that this is a relatively new phenomenon. When a deeper history is invoked, nineteenth-century antivaccinationists are the central characters. However, there is a long period between the Vaccination Acts and the MMR crisis in which what we would now call “vaccine resistance” created concern for public health authorities. This paper focuses on a microhistory of antivivisectionist resistance to mass childhood diphtheria immunisation during the Second World War. Despite wartime restrictions, there was a concerted campaign against the immunisation on the grounds of animal welfare. It drew on the antivaccination arguments and tactics of the previous generation around smallpox; and also foreshadowed objections that would remain throughout the postwar period, reawakened at particular moments of contestation such as the DTwP and MMR crises. Drawing on a National Archives file of letters written to the Minster of Health in the early 1940s, it shows that neat narratives of increasing distrust of the medical profession do not hold true. Rather, British citizens had complex views on the relationship between the state and the individual’s body, a relationship epitomised by mass routine vaccination. The overlap of ethical, scientific, moral and political debates in these papers thus allows us to see the connections as well as the historical specificity of moments of wide-spread vaccine hesitancy and refusal.| Periode | 16. jul. 2024 |
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| Begivenhedstitel | Society for the History of Medicine Biennial Conference: Resistance |
| Begivenhedstype | Konference |
| Placering | Glasgow, StorbritannienVis på kort |
| Grad af anerkendelse | International |