An investigation of controversies over smallpox immunization in twentieth-century Japan

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K03891
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Sociology
Research Institution	Bukkyo University
Principal Investigator	Kozai Toyoko 佛教大学, 社会学部, 准教授 (30507819)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Keywords	予防接種 / 種痘 / 天然痘 / 歴史 / 議論 / 副反応 / 歴史社会学 / 近現代日本 / 種痘禍 / リスク / 政治性 / 近現代
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This research aimed to clarify the relationship between preventive medicine and politics through the case of controversies over smallpox immunization mainly in twentieth-century Japan. In Japan, compulsory vaccination toward a whole nation started in the second half of the ninetieth century and since then it continued just before the eradication of smallpox. As a result of investigations into the political and medical controversies in the meantime, it was ascertained that the main point of the controversies consisted first in the necessity of vaccination and then in the effectiveness and the coercion of vaccination, and that the risk of showing unfavorable symptoms after vaccination has not been noticed for long.