VACCINE

Public Health Report • 2011
Highlights of Historical Events
Leading to National Surveillance of Vaccination Coverage
in the United States
Author Information
Philip J. Smith, PhD,a David Wood, MD, MPH,b and Paul M. Darden, MDc
aCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Atlanta, GA
bUniversity of Florida, College of Medicine
Community Pediatrics, Jacksonville, FL
cUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
General & Community Pediatrics, Oklahoma City, OK
Abstract
“The history of vaccination
and assessment of vaccination coverage
in the U.S. has its roots in the
pre-Revolutionary War era.”
The articles published in this special supplement of Public Health Reports provide examples of
only some of the current efforts in the United States for evaluating vaccination coverage. So,
how did we get here? The history of vaccination and assessment of vaccination coverage in the
U.S. has its roots in the pre-Revolutionary War era. In many cases, development of vaccines,
and attention devoted to the assessment of vaccination coverage, has grown from the impact
of infectious disease on major world events such as wars. The purpose of this commentary is
to provide a brief overview of the key historical events in the U.S. that influenced the development
of vaccines and the efforts to track vaccination coverage, which laid the foundation for
contemporary vaccination assessment efforts.
Full Report • Recommended Reading
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3113425/