The Emerging Immunisation Social Order: A History of Vaccines

This chapter is a historical account of the social and political dimensions of vaccines and vaccine science over the last two centuries. Beginning with Benjamin Jesty, Edward Jenner and smallpox vaccination and concluding in the early neoliberal era, the chapter provides an overview of the social stories at the centre of the history of vaccinology. We show that the socioeconomic and political conditions of the day have shaped vaccine development and access—that the march of vaccinology has not occurred in a social vacuum—with new vaccines or the need for new vaccines in turn reshaping society. In this regard, this chapter begins the process of highlighting the growth of the immunisation social order which contextualises discussions later in the book. We also consider the history of challenges, restrictions or problems within the immunisation social order. Though vaccination has undoubtedly saved many lives across its history, the path from the first vaccine to the plethora of vaccines in use today has been marked by considerable and frequent controversy. In this regard, we also begin to explore how social and political values and the interests held by social actors have influenced and reshaped vaccine controversy and the nature and functioning of the immunisation social order.