Vaccinations: Rites of Passage
Vaccination—introducing dead or weakened versions of germs into the body to promote the production of antibodies and create immunity to a disease—has been practiced for at least 200 years, making it a chronological "peer" of the United States. Which childhood diseases do the American public health announcements below address?
1. 
Rubella
Rubella, otherwise known as German measles, causes only very mild symptoms in most people with healthy immune systems (largely a rash and swollen glands in the neck), but can be fatal or crippling to unborn children. If a woman contracts rubella while pregnant, there is, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "an 80% chance that her baby will be born deaf or blind, with a damaged heart or small brain, or mentally retarded." Miscarriage is also possible.
This 1970 image promotes vaccination against the disease, which became available in 1969. In 1964-1965, during a major rubella outbreak, more than 20,000 children were born with disorders from the disease.
2. 
Diphtheria
Diphtheria, a highly-contagious bacterial disease, causes flu-like symptoms—but, left untreated, the CDC says that it "produces a toxin that can cause serious complications such as heart failure or paralysis" and kills one out of 10 of its victims.
In the 1920s, diphtheria killed approximately 15,000 victims a year, many of them children. With widespread use of the vaccine, the disease is now very rare in the U.S.. This poster dates from 1941.
3. 
Smallpox
The highly contagious smallpox virus causes fever, headache, vomiting, and a severe skin rash, killing many of its victims and scarring survivors. Today, smallpox cases are virtually unknown, due to a global vaccination campaign that has its roots centuries ago—the English physician Edward Jenner first vaccinated against smallpox at the end of the 18th century.
In 1809, Massachusetts became the first state to require vaccination. Vaccinations for smallpox in the U.S. continued until 1972. This image is from 1941, eight years before the last recorded case in the country.
4. 
Polio
The polio virus can cause symptoms ranging from those of the common cold to severe muscle pain followed by partial paralysis (often in the legs, but sometimes in other muscles). According to the CDC, a 1916 outbreak killed 6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 others, while the National Network for Immunization Information reports that an epidemic in 1952 affected 21,000 people.
Vaccines for polio came out in 1955 and 1961; the last U.S.-originating case occurred in 1979, and the disease no longer exists in the western hemisphere. This poster is from 1963, and features "Wellbee," a CDC mascot used to promote vaccination and public health.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website provides resources on (largely present-day) health and health practices, but its Public Health Image Library (PHIL) presents a searchable database of health-and-medicine-related images and videos. The search engine can be tricky to operate, and some of the images (many are photographs) contain graphic representations of injury and disease, so you may want to take care while surfing or when directing students to the website.
You can find many more posters from the New Deal era, on topics ranging from public health to theater performances, at the Library of Congress' American Memory collection By the People, for the People: Posters from the WPA. Read the Clearinghouse's review of this website here.
For a sprinkling of other public health posters, and information on the lives of major U.S. scientists who worked in biomedical research and public health, try the National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science. The Clearinghouse reviews the Profiles here.
Colonial Williamsburg's ongoing podcast touches on colonial-era vaccination in a July 13, 2009, podcast on a 1721 smallpox epidemic in Boston.
A Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American history blog entry looks at the museum's collection of flu vaccines. The Museum's online exhibit Whatever Happened to Polio? offers online games, historical photos, and other resources on polio and the development of a vaccine against it.
PBS offers the full-length documentary American Experience: The Polio Crusade, free to watch online.
Search the topic "Health and Medicine" in our Museums and Historic Sites database to find possible health-and-medicine-related field trip sites in your area. Many towns have small apothecary and drugstore museums, and your region may have a larger museum, as well—such as DC's National Museum of Health and Medicine or Maryland's National Museum of Dentistry.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Image Library, http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/ (accessed July 29, 2009).
- Chicago (Ill.) WPA Federal Art Project, "Diphtheria strikes unprotected children : Protect your child with toxoid—Toxoid prevents diptheria : Chicago Department of Health," 1941, By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 (accessed July 30, 2009).
- Chicago (Ill.) WPA Federal Art Project, "Is your child vaccinated : Vaccination prevents smallpox - Chicago Department of Health," 1941, By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 (accessed July 30, 2009).
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, "Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunizations" (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2007) (accessed July 30, 2009).
- National Network for Immunization Information, http://www.immunizationinfo.org/ (accessed July 30, 2009).
