ArticleEmerging infectious diseases2010
Alfred Russel Wallace and the antivaccination movement in Victorian England.
Article in Emerging infectious diseases, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- An 'arsenal for the supply of ammunition for the defence of vaccination': the Jenner Society and anti-anti-vaccinationism in England, 1896-1906.Medical history · 2025Article
- Negative vaccine sentiments on South African social media platforms before the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods study.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Spain's Hesitation at the Gates of a COVID-19 Vaccine.Vaccines · 2021Article
- SARS-CoV-2 infection: a global outbreak and its implication on public health.Bulletin of the National Research Centre · 2021Review
- Fact vs Fallacy: The Anti-Vaccine Discussion Reloaded.Advances in therapy · 2020Article
- Paediatric Virology: A rapidly increasing educational challenge.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2017Article
- The prevention and eradication of smallpox: a commentary on Sloane (1755) 'An account of inoculation'.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- The contribution of vaccination to global health: past, present and future.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2014Review
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1 author.
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Abstract
Alfred Russel Wallace, eminent naturalist and codiscoverer of the principle of natural selection, was a major participant in the antivaccination campaigns in late 19th-century England. Wallace combined social reformism and quantitative arguments to undermine the claims of provaccinationists and had a major impact on the debate. A brief account of Wallace's background, his role in the campaign, and a summary of his quantitative arguments leads to the conclusion that it is unwarranted to portray Victorian antivaccination campaigners in general as irrational and antiscience. Public health policy can benefit from history, but the proper context of the evidence used should always be kept in mind.
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