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On Immunity
An Inoculation
Being afraid that vaccinating our children creates more harm than good isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s a fear informed by numerous cultural narratives. On Immunity looks at the different historical myths and metaphors in the vaccination debate, and presents statistics on vaccination’s effects.
- Parents who are unsure whether or not to vaccinate their child
- Anyone who is interested in the cultural history of vaccination
- Anyone who’s heard Jenny McCarthy say that vaccinations are dangerous
Eula Biss is a non-fiction writer. She has won various awards such as the Rona Jaffe Writers' Award, the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, and the Pushcart Prize. She is a fellow of the National Endowment of the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
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On Immunity
An Inoculation
- Read in 16 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 10 key ideas
Synopsis
Being afraid that vaccinating our children creates more harm than good isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s a fear informed by numerous cultural narratives. On Immunity looks at the different historical myths and metaphors in the vaccination debate, and presents statistics on vaccination’s effects.
Key idea 1 of 10
Ancient stories are full of parents trying and failing to keep their children safe – or mistakenly harming them.
Among the overwhelming number of factors to sift through, how can you know what’s best for your child? In fact, although vaccination is one polarising topic among parents today, the debate on what’s best for our children is ancient.
Even thousands of years ago, there are stories about parents trying and failing to keep their children safe.
Take the well-known myth about the goddess Thetis. After hearing a prophecy that her son Achilles will die young, she does everything she can to help him avoid his fate. She dips infant Achilles into the underworld river Styx to make him invulnerable. As she takes him by the ankles to do this, Achilles’ heels are the only part that the water does not touch. To further protect her child, she also asks the god of fire to create a magical shield for him. However, Achilles dies when an arrow pierces his heel – the only part of him that remains vulnerable.
Another myth is the story of the King of Argos and his daughter Danae. He imprisons her in a bronze tower to ensure she stays a virgin. But this doesn’t stop the powerful Zeus, who disguises himself as gold rain and impregnates Danae.
In fairy tales, too, parents unwittingly endanger their children. Most of these parents want to shield their children, but they are fooled into actions that instead hurt them.
For example, in The Girl Without Hands, to bring his family out of poverty, a miller makes a deal with the devil and exchanges everything that lies behind his mill for riches. Later he discovers, to his horror, that his daughter was standing just behind the mill.
When it comes to vaccinations, modern parents can relate to these narratives: they hope vaccination will keep their children safe, but fear their choice might prove to be harmful.
Key ideas in this title
- Ancient stories are full of parents trying and failing to keep their children safe – or mistakenly harming them.
- Vaccinations scare parents when they’re linked with neurological and immune disorders.
- In many people’s minds, vaccinations are associated with violence, sin and impurity.
- For generations, people refused vaccination because they associated the illness or the vaccine with an “unsavory” group.
- There’s a mass misperception that vaccinations are unnatural.
- Vaccinations are sometimes viewed as an act of power and suppression.
- War metaphors dominate discussions about vaccinations and the immune system.
- A vaccination doesn’t only impact the child, but the entire community.
- The risks of most infections vastly outweigh the moderate risks of vaccination.
- Final summary
