For many years, the threat of measles, a deadly disease that spreads more rapidly than COVID and regularly took thousands of lives a year, had been effectively eradicated in the United States due to the widespread acceptance of vaccination. The death of a child from measles in West Texas was the first in over a decade and it came as a shock to the American medical establishment that is now grappling with a disturbing reality: the chief public health bureaucrat is a bonafide anti-vaxxer. This episode will explore the genealogy of anti-vaccination beliefs in the United States and how they spread into mainstream politics.

Sources:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1200696/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8802588/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1123944/

https://time.com/7205900/anti-vaccination-movement-history/ 

https://historyofvaccines.org/getting-vaccinated/vaccine-faq/vaccination-exemptions

https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/timeline-of-vaccination-mandates

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_2 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rfk-jr-plandemic-funding-1235173801/ 

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-02/rand-paul-on-vaccines-most-of-them-ought-to-be-voluntary- 

https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/ 

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-on-vaccines-and-autism 

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bombastic-19th-century-anti-vaxxer-who-fueled-montreals-smallpox-epidemic/

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/plague-the-red-death-strikes-montreal-feature

https://www.cascadepbs.org/2020/05/seattle-always-had-anti-vaxxers-even-during-smallpox

https://www.cascadepbs.org/mossback/2025/02/history-vaccine-skepticism-1920s-seattle-rfk-jr

For many years, the threat of measles, a deadly disease that spreads more rapidly than COVID and regularly took thousands of lives a year, had been effectively eradicated in the United States due to the widespread acceptance of vaccination. The death of a child from measles in West Texas was the first in over a decade and it came as a shock to the American medical establishment that is now grappling with a disturbing reality: the chief public health bureaucrat is a bonafide anti-vaxxer. This episode will explore the genealogy of anti-vaccination beliefs in the United States and how they spread into mainstream politics.
Sources:
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1200696/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1200696/</a>
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8802588/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8802588/</a>
<a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1123944/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1123944/</a>
<a href="https://time.com/7205900/anti-vaccination-movement-history/">https://time.com/7205900/anti-vaccination-movement-history/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://historyofvaccines.org/getting-vaccinated/vaccine-faq/vaccination-exemptions">https://historyofvaccines.org/getting-vaccinated/vaccine-faq/vaccination-exemptions</a>
<a href="https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/timeline-of-vaccination-mandates">https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/timeline-of-vaccination-mandates</a>
<a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_2">https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-68106-1_2</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rfk-jr-plandemic-funding-1235173801/">https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/rfk-jr-plandemic-funding-1235173801/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-02/rand-paul-on-vaccines-most-of-them-ought-to-be-voluntary-">https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-02/rand-paul-on-vaccines-most-of-them-ought-to-be-voluntary-</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/">https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-on-vaccines-and-autism">https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-on-vaccines-and-autism</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bombastic-19th-century-anti-vaxxer-who-fueled-montreals-smallpox-epidemic/">https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bombastic-19th-century-anti-vaxxer-who-fueled-montreals-smallpox-epidemic/</a>
<a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/plague-the-red-death-strikes-montreal-feature">https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/plague-the-red-death-strikes-montreal-feature</a>
<a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/2020/05/seattle-always-had-anti-vaxxers-even-during-smallpox">https://www.cascadepbs.org/2020/05/seattle-always-had-anti-vaxxers-even-during-smallpox</a>
<a href="https://www.cascadepbs.org/mossback/2025/02/history-vaccine-skepticism-1920s-seattle-rfk-jr">https://www.cascadepbs.org/mossback/2025/02/history-vaccine-skepticism-1920s-seattle-rfk-jr</a>

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here started as an exploration of the possibility of a new civil war. Now a daily show, it's evolved into a chronicle of collapse as it happens, and an exploration of how we might build a better future. Every day Robert Evans, Garrison Davis, Mia Wong, and James Stout take you on a jaunty walk through the burning ruins of the old world and towards a better one that lays just on the horizon.

It Could Happen Here

Anti-Vax America: Anti-Vax Genealogy

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/eb94cde4-4977-4ef4-a0a9-b2fe010eb05e/transcript

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