Vaccines: Purifying or Contaminating the Body?

 

This comic depicts a mother and her child in an examination room at the doctor’s office. The woman sits and frighteningly clutches her child as the baby rests, blissfully unaware of their mother’s fear. Walking towards them is the pediatrician, carrying a larger-than-life bright-green injection. The color of the vaccine references the idea that many individuals who disagree with vaccinations tend to view them as poison, and this is certainly reinforced by the unnatural green color. Furthermore, the facial expressions in this image are fascinating to study. The doctor’s expression is difficult to read as it includes disappointment, frustration, annoyance, or a combination of those three. The mother seems visibly scared of either the injection itself, or the fact that the doctor is coming at her with it, yet the baby in her arms appears to be sleeping with a smile. The decision to make the syringe comically large is interesting, as it hints at the mother’s fear of her child’s body being injected with such medicine, or poison. This image reflects the anti-vax point of view, and how while the doctor is just trying to do the job that he was hired to do, people are worried about getting their children vaccinated out of fear that vaccines introduce new contaminants to the body. 

In Purity and Danger, author Mary Douglas explains the role of dirt in disorder and the purity of the body, two concepts that can be seen through the anti-vax movement. She notes in the introduction, "In chasing dirt... we are not governed by anxiety to escape disease, but we are positively re-ordering our environment, making it conform to an idea," (Douglas 1966: 3). This fear of contamination is important because it can cause people to act irrationally. The idea of escaping 'disease' could be anything from trying to get rid of literal dirt to deciding not to get vaccinated under the false belief that not getting vaccinated will, in fact, be safer. She discusses how both external pressures and the individual play a role in the ideas of contamination and purification, as people can be influenced by their community, yet ultimately make their own decisions. Contamination and purity are two concepts essential to Douglas's argument, with contamination involving pollution and purity meaning cleansing. Douglas hints at a paradox, calling for a state of cleanliness while also noting feeling, "unrelaxed in a particular [place] kept spotlessly clean," (Douglas 2). She suggests a relationship between order and disorder, or contamination and purity, two seemingly incompatible things. 

According to Douglas, would vaccines act as contaminants or purify the body, or is it possible for them to both? In this case, those against vaccinating their children are fearful of contaminating their children with these medicines. This, however, has the opportunity to backfire and by trying to protect their children, they could be harming their children in the long run. What then, to anti-vaxxers is dirt? It would appear to be the vaccinations, in reality, the ‘dirt’ is disease. This reinforces Douglas’s point that dirt does not necessarily have to have a negative connotation. A parent or guardian’s decision to or not to vaccinate becomes complicated for a few reasons. To begin with, the decision is made on behalf of underage children. For the most part, the children do not make their own decisions about vaccines, they simply follow what their parents/ guardians say. This is an issue in the modern day, with constant contact with so many germs and diseases. Yet, many are preventable or at least manageable through vaccinations. While religion and health concerns should certainly be taken into account, for the most part, this anti-vax mentality has been brought upon society itself. Douglas’s analysis of the role of society is important for learning about the social nature of this decision. Individuals have talked their way into being fearful of these vaccines created to help them. This can have unintended consequences, such as children in the modern age contracting diseases that can harm them if they do not have the built-up immunity from the vaccines. To anti-vaxxers, vaccines contaminate the body, but with numerous diseases threatening our well-being, vaccines are currently the most valid and sustainable way of combating them. Therefore, it could be argued that vaccines positively contaminate bodies since their intent is to ultimately purify the body of maladies. 

Longstreth, Alec. 2014. “Vaccine as Metaphor.” https://slate.com/culture/2014/10/on-immunity-an-inoculation-reviewed-eula-biss-book-explores-fear-of-vaccines.html