Mass Vaccination (eBook)

<p><b>"e;<i>Mass Vaccination</i> comfortably establishes itself as the leading and indeed essential monograph on the history of vaccination in modern China; a much-needed contribution to the history of medicine that will undoubtedly become a textbook in our age of vaccine wars, but which by far surpasses the historiographical needs of the moment by delivering a nuanced and systematic history of mass vaccination in the world&#39;s most populous and increasingly powerful country."e;</b> <i>International Journal of Asian Studies</i></p><p>While the eradication of smallpox has long been documented, not many know the Chinese roots of this historic achievement. In this revelatory study, Mary Augusta Brazelton examines the PRC&#39;s public health campaigns of the 1950s to explain just how China managed to inoculate almost six hundred million people against this and other deadly diseases.</p><p><b><i>Mass Vaccination</i></b> tells the story of the people, materials, and systems that built these campaigns, exposing how, by improving the nation&#39;s health, the Chinese Communist Party quickly asserted itself in the daily lives of all citizens. This crusade had deep roots in the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, when researchers in China&#39;s southwest struggled to immunize as many people as possible, both in urban and rural areas. But its legacy was profound, providing a means for the state to develop new forms of control and of engagement. Brazelton considers the implications of vaccination policies for national governance, from rural health care to Cold War-era programs of medical diplomacy.</p><p>By embedding Chinese medical history within international currents, she highlights how and why China became an exemplar of primary health care at a crucial moment in global health policy.</p>