Vaccine hesitancy and politics continue. Years of loud skepticism and outright campaigns against vaccination seem to have taken their toll; a decrease in vaccine use has resulted in a resurgence of measles and other public health threats. Yet the government, which has a responsibility for public health, persists in making vaccine recommendations that are not backed by science while public health officials, health organizations, researchers and other experts press on to protect the health of this country and provide evidence-based information.

I recently read an op ed article that acknowledged the beginning of vaccination in Boston in 1721. An African slave shared knowledge of a century-old African practice known as variolation —a form of inoculation that could protect against smallpox. This was shared with a physician who put it into practice. The success and lives saved were carefully documented. This was the earliest evidence in North America that vaccines save lives.

Fifty years later George Washington, noticing that more of his troops were dying from disease than enemy fire, facing great opposition and ordered inoculation of his troops. This contributed to the American government’s responsibility to protect public health. Seventy-five years later, a report on the necessity and power of research paved the foundation for evidence-based public health practice in the US. Public Health has grown as a strong, protective and layered service to the American public.

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