Smallpox in America, Vaccine Heroes/Villians (3/13)

by Prof. Hangen - March 13th, 2017

Brandeis history professor Michael Willrich‘s book about smallpox traces the complex interactions between medicine, public health, government and politics in the Progressive Era. We will read this book over several weeks, from March 6 to March 27. Please bring the book to class on the days we’re discussing the assigned chapters.

Keep in mind that the Conference Day for your Disease Project is Wed 3/15 – if we have a cancellation due to snow, we will hold the conference on Monday 3/27 instead and also adjust the paper deadline accordingly. Your poster is due in class and you should be prepared to make a short presentation to your peers about your project on that day. Project guidelines, if you need them, are posted on Blackboard and in the left sidebar on this page.

Mon, March 13: Read Pox, Chapter 4 “War is Health” and 5 “The Stable and the Laboratory”

Some discussion questions to guide your reading and thinking:

  • At the beginning of the 20th century, how was military and American imperial expansion related to the origins, development and transformation of the “sanitary campaigns” in places that the US military had occupied?
  • What were some of the legacies or achievements of those campaigns; at what cost were they achieved?
  • Of what causes did the majority of soldiers die during the War of 1898?
  • (see p. 171) In the fall of 1901, vaccination regulation was controversial. A few months later it was federal law. What happened?
  • Describe the process of vaccine manufacture in the early 1900s under the direction of the state boards of health. (How does it compare with today, by the way?)
  • What were some of the problems with this process, and what were the effects of tainted vaccine?
  • Why is the Biologics Control Act important?

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