Dr. Elena Conis, Assistant Professor of History, will present at the Decatur Book Festival on Saturday, September 5 from 4:15-5:00pm. Dr. Conis will discuss her most recent book, Vaccine Nation: America’s Changing Relationship with Immunization, at the Marriott Conference Center A. Here is a brief description about the talk and Dr. Conis’ book:

With employers offering free flu shots and pharmacies expanding into one-stop shops to prevent everything from shingles to tetanus, vaccines are everywhere. The past fifty years have witnessed an enormous upsurge in vaccines and immunization in the United States: American children now receive more vaccines than any previous generation, and laws requiring their immunization against a litany of diseases are standard. Yet, while vaccination rates have soared and cases of preventable infections have plummeted, an increasingly vocal cross section of Americans have questioned the safety and necessity of vaccines. In Vaccine Nation, Elena Conis explores this complicated history and its consequences for personal and public health.