Vaccine as a Sociocultural Artefact: The Example of Locally Produced Polio Vaccine in Serbia

Abstract

The paper argues that vaccines could be viewed as artifacts which communicate various social messages and are used as instruments for fulfilling different sociopolitical goals besides meeting public health needs. It further suggests that such social, cultural and political influences may have real effects on the choices of vaccine technologies or vaccine production, and aims to demonstrate their importance in the area which is normally seen as the domain of objective science. This is demonstrated by using the example of the locally produced oral polio vaccine (OPV) in Serbia during the socialist and post-socialist periods in the country’s history.