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Vaccines: Are they Worth a Shot? pp 1–23Cite as

Who Is Afraid of Vaccines?

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Abstract

The history of anti-vaccination movements is long and instructive. We can trace its beginnings back to late eighteenth century England and the practice of vaccinating against smallpox. From a historical point of view, we cannot say that opposition to vaccinations is anything new; what is new today is the increasingly large number of people involved and their social status. In addition, for the first time, we are seeing a decline in the vaccinal coverage of the population after two centuries of slow but inevitable advances: we are consequently seeing something very different from the opposition to vaccination in the past by some marginal groups.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See the website and manual of the WHO (http://tinyurl.com/jysh983I) and the one promoted by the European Community through EuroHealthNet (http://eurohealthnet.eu/).

  2. 2.

    Censis. Cultura della vaccinazione in Italia: un’indagine sui genitori, ottobre 2014. The sample of the survey is made up of parents between 18 and 55 with children aged between 0 and 15 (the age group of the paediatrical vaccinal calendars). The percentages of this paragraph, when not indicated otherwise, are from this source: http://tinyurl.com/hcjdzqc

  3. 3.

    Hall H.,“The Truth About Cancer” Series Is Untruthful About Cancer, Science-Based Medicine, Nov. 17, 2015: https://goo.gl/J8p776; David Gorski (Orac), Insolence. Another cancer quack dies… of cancer, ScienceBlogs, Jul. 15, 2016: https://goo.gl/GxwJSE

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    U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), For Consumers, Products Claiming to “Cure” Cancer Are a Cruel Deception, Apr. 25, 2017: https://goo.gl/Qi34iv

  5. 5.

    Stem Cells Portal. The Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Online Community, Stem Cells Fraud Scheme in U.S. Leads to Arrests, January 18, 2012: https://goo.gl/TqrCAA

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    Jabr, F., In the Flesh: The Embedded Dangers of Untested Stem Cell Cosmetics. Unapproved procedures and skin care products endanger consumers and clinical research, “Scientific American”, Dec. 17, 2012: https://goo.gl/UtQjMs; Engel M., Kuntzman G., Celebs’ stem cell facial treatments include sheep placenta, others get human cells, “New York Daily News”, Mar. 27, 2015: https://goo.gl/fKyg8h; MCFarling U.L., FDA moves to crack down on unproven stem cell therapies, “STAT”, Feb. 8, 2016: https://goo.gl/pHc353

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    NHS Immunisation Statistics. England, 2015–16. Sept. 22, 2016: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21651/nhs-imms-stat-eng-2015-16-rep.pdf

  8. 8.

    Rifiuta cure per metodo Hamer, un’altra donna morta a Rimini, Corriere della Sera, 3 Sept. 2016: https://goo.gl/cCNMHd

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    Evaluation of an unconventional cancer treatment (the Di Bella multitherapy): results of phase II trials in Italy. BMJ 1999; 318 (7178): 224–228.

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  11. 11.

    The Opinion Pages, Editorial, Populism, Politics and Measles, “The New York Times”, May 2, 2017: https://goo.gl/XpCxvd

  12. 12.

    Eurostat. Statistics-explained: Fertility statistics, Mar 2017: https://goo.gl/bjCW8s; OECD Education at a Glance 2013. OECD indicators: https://goo.gl/njQ4G3

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  1. Unit and Museum of History of Medicine, Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Grignolio

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  1. Andrea Grignolio
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Grignolio, A. (2018). Who Is Afraid of Vaccines?. In: Vaccines: Are they Worth a Shot?. Copernicus, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_1

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