The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19

Elena Conis, a faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine, explains how attitudes and federal policy about vaccines have evolved in the U.S. in this UC Berkeley news article. In her book, Vaccine Nation: America's Changing Relationship With Immunization, Conis tells the stories of various vaccines, from polio in the 1950s to HPV in the 2000s, and how the historical context of each affected its adoption by the public. In addition to recounting how public opinion and federal policy has changed, Conis documents how the medical advancements of vaccines altered the ways Americans perceived the very illnesses the shots could prevent.