Nationalizing Mass Immunization Amid Civil War and Revolution

Abstract

This chapter assesses the expansion of mass immunization in China during the calamitous period from 1945 to 1949. The reestablishment of biological research and production bases in the newly repossessed eastern cities solidified the authority of Chinese immunologists such as Tang Feifan, Wei Xi, Xie Shaowen, and others as prominent contributors to Chinese public health. At the same time, as the capacities of state administrations were stretched and strained, new dialogues emerged over the role of coercive immunization, its relationship to legitimate governance, and the ability of microbiology to contribute to national reconstruction. Medical researchers and clinicians especially championed one vaccine at this time: the BCG immunization against tuberculosis. The immunization itself proved difficult to produce and implement, but its promotion reflected the changes that the war with Japan had wrought in China's public health system and its adoption of mass immunization programs. Nationalists and Communists alike embraced the vaccines that these researchers developed and manufactured. The chapter then looks at vaccination policies and practices during the Chinese Civil War.