Vaccines, Germs, and Knowledge

Maël Montévil (1, 2)

1 IRI - Institut de Recherche et d'Innovation
2 IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques

Vaccines for COVID-19 have led to questions, debates, and polemics on both their safety and the political and geopolitical dimension of their use. We propose to take a step back on both the history of this practice and how current theories in immunology understand it. Both can contribute to providing a rational assessment of COVID-19 vaccines. This assessment cannot consider vaccine as an isolated procedure, and we discuss its intergradation with the broader question of knowledge and politics in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mots clés: Covid 19; danger theory; smallpox

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Autre [q-bio.OT]; Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Immunologie; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Immunologie; Vaccinologie

Maël Montévil. Vaccines, Germs, and Knowledge. Philosophy World Democracy, 2021. ⟨hal-03478521⟩