The History of Institutionalization of Vaccination Practices in Western Europe (18th – 19th Centuries)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the historical development of the vaccination practices institutionalization in the context of smallpox epidemics in Europe. Historical analysis allows identify three stages of institutionalization. The first lasted from the emergence of variolation as a social innovation until 1800 when it was replaced by vaccination. The second stage – when political and legislative legitimization of vaccination was accomplished. And the third one – when economic and moral-ethical persuasion methods of constructing public beliefs were developed. All of these led to reconstructing of relationships between state and society.The relationship between the key social factors contributed to the transformation of vaccination institute from politically legitimized rules and strict sanctions for their violation to the balanced system of normative and value regulators of epidemic risks, which allowed certain European societies to perfect the system of public health protection and use the advantages in demographic and social development.