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Historical Perspectives on the Antaean Animadversion of Vaccine Science in the 21st Century

Donald E Greydanus

Anti-vaccine sentiment has been present since the concept of immunization was first introduced by Edward Jenner in the fin de siècle decade of the 18th century in England. This paper considers historical perspectives surrounding contravening and injurious views toward vaccinations. Clinicians and scientists are often perplexed by how seemingly intelligent and caring parents can conclude that scientifically-validated vaccines are dangerous to their children, prompting such parents to refuse to provide some or even all of the vaccines recommended by major organizations in medicine around the world. The pungent philippic of the anti-vaccine community can seem disingenuous and desipient
to the science community; unfortunately, this antipodal diatribe is often positively perceived by some members of the public and has been for countless eons. Anti-vaccine animus is not a fugacious movement of lilliputian dimensions but an antaean, amaranthine straw man fallacy with deep roots buried in the zeitgeist of Homo sapiens that has and will cause tragic harm to helpless children from what are vaccine preventable diseases. Appreciation of such concepts can be useful in constructing strategies to improve this 21st century vaccine animadversion. One can accurately adumbrate that failing to effectively address such issues will only lead to more vaccine refusals despite the persistent and impressive progress that is being made in vaccinology. Modern science does not have a nepenthe for the parents who have needlessly lost children because these precious little ones were not vaccinated for a vaccine preventable disease. The silence of the anti-vaccine mantics and maudits in such cases is deafening and pantagruelian.