ANTI-VAXXERS

A primer on the history of vaccination and the anti-vaccination movement.

Berman seeks to present a complete picture of the anti-vaccination crusade from the 19th century to the present. Vaccination, which introduces an agent that creates immunity against a pathogen without causing the disease itself, can be traced as far back as the 16th century in China and India. But the first anti-vaccination response, involving the treatment of smallpox, was recorded in the mid-18th century in Britain. Perhaps understandably, there was a visceral repulsion to polluting one’s body with unknown, possibly toxic materials. Here and elsewhere, Berman deliberately investigates the psyche of anti-vaxxers to see what makes them tick. While he appreciates that many anti-vaccine parents want the best for their children, a host of factors have gotten in the way of good science. In the 19th century, there were issues of social class, individual rights, mandatory vaccination, the cost of treatment, preserving the integrity of the body, and poor laws that stripped the destitute of “the last dignity they were afforded: control of their own bodies.” In the 20th and 21st centuries, the greatest influencer has been the media, which has allowed misinformation to spread like wildfire without giving the same airtime to the refutations of fearmongers. Subsequently discredited papers associating vaccination with autism made a big splash, but the arguments against the flawed studies scarcely caused a media ripple. Also causing wariness on the part of anti-vaxxers is distrust of government and pharmaceutical companies as well as vaccine hesitancy encouraged by some religious sects, and countless crackpot remedies have flourished in lieu of scientifically sound medical practices. Berman acknowledges the difficulty in changing the mind of an anti-vaxxer, and he stresses that much more can be accomplished through building trust in scientific research and community-based activism than mocking on Facebook.

Berman dispels anti-vax fears and subterfuges with straight, scientific evidence.