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When “Sarah,” a nurse with a master's degree, gets her annual flu shot without a second thought, while her neighbor "Jake", who dropped out of high school, refuses all vaccines for his family, it might seem like education is the deciding factor. This scenario, while fictional, reflects patterns that researchers...

Imagine waking up one morning in 1889 to read in your local newspaper that a mysterious illness was spreading rapidly across Europe, shutting down schools and offices as it moved from city to city along the railway lines. For people living in the late 1800s, this scenario became reality...

When you roll up your sleeve to get your annual flu shot or when parents take their children for routine vaccinations, a careful scientific process has already determined that these vaccines are both safe and necessary. Behind these recommendations stand two crucial but often overlooked committees that have been quietly...

Imagine if your body had its own army, with specialized soldiers, intelligence officers, and memory units that could recognize and fight off invaders. This isn’t science fiction—it’s your immune system, and understanding how it works has been one of humanity’s greatest scientific adventures. The story of immunology (the study of...

Isabel Cendala y Gómez (sometimes anglicized to Isabel Zendal), a nurse from 18th-century Spain, became an unsung public health hero when she joined the Balmis Expedition, the world’s first international vaccination campaign. Her work with orphaned children, who were used to carry the smallpox vaccine from Europe to the...

With the passing of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025, we decided to post the following blog post about the role of the Catholic Church in the history of vaccines ahead of schedule. This post was initially going to be part of a series on the roles of major...

The recent measles outbreak in Texas, which has tragically resulted in the deaths of two unvaccinated children, raises important questions about how religious beliefs influence vaccination decisions. As of the latest reports, at least 700 measles cases have been confirmed in four US states and the Mexican State of Chihuahua...

In the annals of the American Revolutionary War, we often focus on the military tactics, political maneuvering, and battlefield heroics that secured independence. However, one of General George Washington’s most consequential decisions had nothing to do with troop formations or artillery placement. Instead, it involved a bold medical intervention that...

During the 1989–1991 U.S. measles epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Kaiser Permanente conducted a clinical trial in Los Angeles testing the Edmonston-Zagreb (E-Z) measles vaccine on nearly 1,500 predominantly Black and Latino infants. The study aimed to compare the experimental E-Z vaccine, used...

Before diving into the details of anti-vaccine rhetoric, let's establish a foundational truth: vaccines rank among medicine's greatest achievements, preventing millions of deaths annually. By some estimates, vaccines have saved over 150 million lives in the last 50 years. That’s 150 million who are our neighbors, friends, and...