The vaccinal hypothesis: towards a critical and anthropological approach to a historical phenomenon

Abstract

The article calls attention to the complexity of immunization by vaccine, from a perspective that combines the biological and social sciences and takes a critical view of current interpretations on the history of vaccination, whether negative or triumphalist. An anthropological look at vaccines and vaccination reveals the multiple historical and geographical facets of what appears to be a unique phenomenon, while also prompting questions about the kaleidoscopic unity of human practices. There is no single history of vaccination but a history of vaccines that have been used in different periods and countries. One consequence of this approach is that the concept of public resistance to immunization campaigns is replaced by acceptability, which suggests that selecting the procedures to employ when immunizing a given population is a hypothesis that should be evaluated based on history.