Immunization : How Vaccines Became Controversial. This item is unavailable.Immunization : How Vaccines Became Controversial

The Bookseller ‘Book of the Month’ for April 2021

'a fascinating history of vaccination and its troubles' - Times Higher Education

'[a] persuasive, challenging chronicle of how vaccines improved human health – and the pharmaceutical industry’s bottom line' - Publishers Weekly

At a time when vaccines are a vital tool in the fight against Covid-19 in all its various mutations this hard-hitting book takes a longer historical perspective. It argues that globalization and cuts to healthcare have been eroding faith in the institutions producing and providing vaccines for more than thirty years. It tells the history of immunization from the work of early pioneers such as Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch through the eradication of smallpox in 1980, to the recent introduction of new kinds of genetically engineered vaccines.
Immunization exposes the limits of public health authorities while suggesting how they can restore our confidence. Public health experts and all those considering vaccinations should read this timely history.

Stuart Blume is Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Educated at Oxford University, he has previously worked at the University of Sussex, the London School of Economics and in Whitehall.