If you get the history of vaccination and infectious disease wrong, then you cannot hope to get the science of vaccines right. The former directly determines the latter. That is why the debate over vaccine science and policy cannot be the exclusive realm of medical doctors, scientists, and public health officials. The historians must not only have a place at the table; they must lead the conversation and point out to the so-called “experts” how they got the story either partly or entirely wrong, and thus must go back and revisit everything they believe to be true.
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