If George Washington Had Been Anti-Vax, the United States Might Not Exist Today

Medical science had pretty much eradicated measles by the year 2000, but an outbreak occurred recently in Texas and other states largely because many children had not been vaccinated. Public resistance to vaccination has grown in recent years, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, has cut vaccine research drastically.

Could resistance to medical science run amok, endangering public health?

This podcast cites the example of George Washington’s decision to immunize his troops against smallpox early in the American Revolution. The podcast also identifies how a worldwide vaccination campaign to eliminate smallpox eventually succeeded in the late twentieth century. Both histories are relevant to present-day clashes between the defenders and critics of vaccines.