What history teaches us about vaccines and pandemics
David Isaacs
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Children’s Hospital at Westmead Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia;
B University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Email: david.isaacs@health.nsw.gov.au
Microbiology Australia 41(4) 168-171 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA20046
Published: 28 October 2020
Abstract
The history of immunisation is full of heroes but also full of villains, and our successes are tempered by tragedies. Despite the urgent need for a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, we should not neglect the lessons of history. These include ethical issues relating to vaccine safety, such as the possible risks of vaccine-induced enhancement witnessed with dengue vaccine in the Philippines, and how our decisions may be represented by the anti-vaxx movement.
References
[1] Isaacs, D. (2019) Defeating the Ministers of Death: The Compelling History of Vaccination. HarperCollins, Sydney.[2] Isaacs, D. et al. (2020) Ethical reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic: the epidemiology of panic. J. Paediatr. Child Health 56, 690–691.
| Ethical reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic: the epidemiology of panic.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 32406543PubMed |
[3] Isaacs, D. et al. (2020) Apocalypse perhaps. J. Paediatr. Child Health 56., .
| Apocalypse perhaps.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 33099829PubMed |
[4] Hopkins, D.R. (1983) Princes and Peasants: Smallpox in History. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.
[5] Warren, C. (2014) Smallpox at Sydney Cove – who, when, why? J. Austral. Stud. 38, 68–86.
[6] Boyston, A. (2012) The origins of inoculation. J. Roy. Soc. Med. 105, 309–13.
[7] Fenner, F. et al. (1988) Smallpox and its eradication. History of international public health, no. 6. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
[8] Debré, P. (2000) Louis Pasteur. Translated by Elborg Forster. JHU Press, Baltimore, MD, USA.
[9] Geison, G.L. (1995) The Private Science of Louis Pasteur. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA.
[10] Offit, P. (2005) The Cutter Incident – How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, USA.
[11] Arbyn, M. et al. (2018) Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 5, CD009069.
| Prophylactic vaccination against human papillomaviruses to prevent cervical cancer and its precursors.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 29740819PubMed |
[12] Arkin, F. (2019) Dengue vaccine fiasco leads to criminal charges for researcher in the Philippines. Science. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/dengue-vaccine-fiasco-leads-criminal-charges-researcher-philippines (accessed 3 August 2020).
