School Vaccination Wars: The Rise of Anti-Science in the American Anti-Vaccination Societies, 1879–1929

2019/04/26 by Kim Tolley · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Medicine · #Biology #Context (archaeology) #Historical Medical Research and Treatments #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #History #Law #Medicine #Opposition (politics) #Period (music) #Political science #Politics #Resistance (ecology) #Social science #Sociology #Vaccination #Virology

paper · doi:10.1017/heq.2019.3

openalex publication_date 2019/04/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

Opposition to school vaccination requirements has a long history in the United States, from the early nineteenth century to today. This essay identifies three distinct phases in organized resistance to school vaccination in the United States between 1827 and 1929. This resistance was associated with a rise in anti-science discourse among leaders of the national anti-vaccination societies and occurred within the context of broader social changes and scientific discoveries during this period.

Citations

• Immunology and Homeopathy. 1. Historical Background
• 'They Might As Well Brand Us': Working-Class Resistance to Compulsory Vaccination in Victorian England

Cited by

• Health in the United States [wikipedia]
• Vaccination [wikipedia]

Related

• “Another Human Sacrifice Thrown to the Pitiless Moloch of Police Power”: The Anti-Vaccination Movement, Parental Rights, and the Roots of American Anti-Statism, 1890–1917
• Resistance to Polio Vaccines in Mid-twentieth-century America: The Role of the March of Dimes, Community Skepticism, Racial Inequalities, and Medical Politics
• Anti-vaccinationists past and present
• Security, Society, and the State: Vaccination Campaigns in 19th and 20th Century Germany
• Security, Society, and the State: Vaccination Campaigns in 19th and 20th Century Germany. Online Appendix with Original Quotes.