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    State of immunity : the politics of vaccination in twentieth-century America / James Colgrove.

    • Title:State of immunity : the politics of vaccination in twentieth-century America / James Colgrove.
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    • Author/Creator:Colgrove, James Keith.
    • Published/Created:Berkeley : University of California Press ; New York : Milbank Memorial Fund, ©2006.
    • Holdings

       
    • Library of Congress Subjects:Vaccination--United States--History--20th century.
      Medical policy--United States--History--20th century.
    • Medical Subjects: Vaccination--history--United States.
      Attitude to Health--United States.
      Health Policy--history--United States.
      History, 20th Century--United States.
    • Description:xiii, 332 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
    • Series:California/Milbank books on health and the public ; 16.
    • Summary:"The first comprehensive history of the social and political aspects of vaccination in the United States, State of Immunity tells the story of how vaccination became an 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. This book examines 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."--BOOK JACKET.
    • Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
    • ISBN:0520247493 (cloth : alk. paper)
      9780520247499
      9780520247493 (cloth : alk.paper)
    • Contents:Introduction : vaccination politics and law in American history
      1. Between persuasion and compulsion : vaccination at the turn of the twentieth century
      2. Science in a democracy : smallpox vaccination in the progressive era and the 1920s
      3. Diphtheria immunization : the power, and the limits, of persuasion
      4. Hard cores and soft spots : selling the polio vaccine
      5. Eradicationism and its discontents
      6. Consent, compulsion and compensation : vaccination programs in crisis
      7. Expansion and backlash : vaccination at the turn of the twenty-first century.
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