The Coercive Hand, the Beneficent Hand: What the History of Compulsory Vaccination Can Tell Us About HPV Vaccine Mandates

Speaker: James Colgrove, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health
Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health

November 11, 2009
2U Conference Room 2019 Claire Fagin Hall
12:15PM

The licensure of a vaccine against human papillomavirus in June of 2006 set off a flurry of legislative activity as states around the country took steps to maximize the benefits of the product among their populations. One of the most controversial policy questions has been whether states should make the vaccine mandatory for girls entering middle school. This presentation will situate the deliberations about HPV vaccine mandates within the context of two centuries of legally enforced vaccination.