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Rahima Banu
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Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics

Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped eradicate smallpox, says past epidemics can teach us to fight coronavirus.
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How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

We’re still dealing with the repercussions of a discredited 1998 study that sowed fear and skepticism about vaccines.

When “Peanuts” Went All-In on Vaccinations

Charles Schulz used his culturally monolithic comic strip to advocate for public health. But his approach had some serious shortcomings.

Resistance to Immunity

A review of three recent books that delve into the history and science of vaccines and immunity, and the anxieties that accompany them.

How Mandatory Vaccination Fueled the Anti-Vaxxer Movement

To better understand the controversy over New York’s measles outbreak, you have to go back to the late 19th century.
A diagram of vaccination rates across the 50 states.

Battling Infectious Diseases in the 20th Century: The Impact of Vaccines

The number of infected people, measured over 70-some years and across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, declined after vaccines were introduced.

How The 'Pox' Epidemic Changed Vaccination Rules

During the 1898-1904 pox epidemic, public health officials and policemen forced thousands of Americans to be vaccinated against their will.
A doctor vaccinating a patient.
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The Origins of the Anti-Vaccination Movement

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s nomination to lead HHS reflects the rising power of an anti-vaccination movement more than 100 years in the making.

Infectious Diseases Killed Victorian Children at Alarming Rates. Novels Show the Fragility of Health

Between 40% and 50% of children didn’t live past 5 in the US during the 19th century. Authors documented the common but no less gutting grief of losing a child.
Boy receiving measles vaccination
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The Public Health Community Must Tell the Whole Measles Story

The anti-vaccine movement has gained ground because the public health community has denied the truth about measles.
Students in Winnetka, Ill., are checked by a nurses as shown here on return to school following illness. 1947.
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To Address the Teen Mental Health Crisis, Look to School Nurses

For more than a century, school nurses have improved public health in schools and beyond.
Gloved hand holding COVID-19-shaped dandelion

Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?

The COVID-19 pandemic affected us in millions of ways. But it evades the meanings we want it to bear.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky at a 2022 CDC Briefing.

The Year the Pandemic "Ended" (Part 1)

The following piece presents an incomplete timeline of the sociological production of the end of the pandemic over the last year.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
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Two Opposing Approaches To Public Health May Be on the Ballot in 2024

Governors Ron DeSantis and Gretchen Whitmer took opposite approaches to covid in swing states — but each sailed to reelection.
On August 8, 2022, activists protest the lack of monkeypox vaccine and treatment access outside the San Francisco Federal Building.

What the AIDS Crisis Can Teach Us About Monkeypox

Harm reduction strategies, like those pioneered by queer men of color, have the best chance of stopping this disease.
Little girl preparing for a polio vaccine.

We Didn't Vanquish Polio. What Does That Mean for Covid-19?

The world is still reeling from the pandemic, but another scourge we thought we’d eliminated has reemerged.
A milk maid shows her cowpoxed hand to a physician, while a farmer or surgeon offers to a young man inoculation with cowpox that he has taken from a cow.

Whack-a-Mole

Vaccine skepticism and misinformation have persisted since the smallpox epidemics. With the internet, it's only gotten worse.
People wait for a free coronavirus test outside the Lincoln Park Recreation Center in Los Angeles on Dec. 30.
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The 1918 Flu is Even More Relevant in 2022 Thanks to Omicron

The past provides a key lesson to minimize the damage from the omicron surge.
Photograph of Joe Biden speaking at a podium with a sign for vaccines.gov in the background.

In Praise of One-Size-Fits-All

Critiques of vaccine mandates continue a neoliberal tradition of idolizing private choice at the expense of the public good.
Surgeon General Vivek Murphy, Texas Children's Hospital chief pathologist Jim Versalovic and first lady Jill Biden visit with kids before they receive their coronavirus vaccine shots on Nov. 14 in Houston.
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History Shows That Passing School Coronavirus Vaccine Mandates Could Require Exemptions

Enacting vaccination mandates demands political give and take.

The South’s Resistance to Vaccination Is Not As Incomprehensible As It Seems

The psychological forces driving “red COVID” have deep historical roots.
A woman on her knees wearing a cowboy hat with an anti-vaccination protest as the background

The Baffling Legal Standard Fueling Religious Objections to Vaccine Mandates

As anti-vax plaintiffs seek faith-based exemptions, the judicial system will renew its struggle to determine what beliefs are truly “sincerely held.”
A protestor wearing syringes, protesting the vaccine mandate
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Doubters’ Push for Religious Exemptions from Coronavirus Vaccination May Not Work

With all organized religions supporting vaccination, states may question the sincerity of those claiming exemptions from getting vaccinated.
The illustration “Vaccinating the Poor,” by Solomon Eytinge Jr

The Surprisingly Strong Supreme Court Precedent Supporting Vaccine Mandates

In 1905, the high court made a fateful ruling with eerie parallels to today: One person’s liberty can’t trump everyone else’s.
Geometric design of influenza epidemic

The 1918 Influenza Won't Help Us Navigate This Pandemic

We have no historical precedent for this moment.
Vaccinations in Senegal
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Sending Vaccines to African Nations is Crucial. But They’re Rightly Wary About Foreign Medical Aid.

How medical humanitarianism helped facilitate exploitation of Africa.
Anti-vaccination pamphlets from the early 1900s

Vaccine Hesitancy in the 1920s

As Progressive Era reforms increased the power of government, organized opposition to vaccination campaigns took on a new life.
shelves full of old medicine bottles

The US Drug Industry Used to Oppose Patents – What Changed?

Patent medicine used to be associated with fraud and profiteering. What shifted the industry's positions on medical ethics and intellectual property?
A lightbulb with a virus inside

World War II’s Lesson for After the Pandemic

The U.S. needs another innovation dream team.
Anthony Brinson, right, talks to a resident in Detroit on May 4 as part of a door-to-door effort to encourage people in the majority-Black city to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. (Paul Sancya/AP)
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Black Americans Have Always Understood Science as a Tool in Their Freedom Struggle

Fixating on Black vaccine skepticism obscures a rich history of Black medical and scientific innovation.

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