The public view of vaccines has long fluctuated between suspicion and enthusiasm -- a growing belief

The public view of vaccines has long fluctuated between suspicion and enthusiasm -- a growing belief in their ability to curb epidemics, combined with some fears about the dangers they can pose to individuals. Below are some examples of both.
The first vaccinations in the U.S. take place in Boston in 1721, for smallpox, after clergyman Cotton Mather learns of the procedure from a slave and persuades a local doctor to try it. Most townspeople react furiously, believing that it will simply spread the disease, and one man tries to burn down Mather's house.Antivaccination leagues spring up during the 1800s, charging that the procedure is dangerous and ineffective. When New York officials forcibly detain those refusing to be vaccinated during an 1893 smallpox outbreak, an antivaccination group sues Brooklyn's health department. The suit is overthrown on appeal.During a smallpox outbreak in 1901, Henning Jacobson of Cambridge, Mass., refuses to be vaccinated, out of concern over possible side effects. The case eventually goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules that states can mandate vaccinations.Jonas Salk in 1954 conducts a national trial of his new polio vaccine, and it is deemed largely effective. Some 1.8 million children are inoculated, and public confidence in vaccines soars. After about 200 children are paralyzed by a faulty batch, the government begins recommending that only infants and young children, not all Americans, get the vaccine.In 1976, concern about "swine flu" (believed to be similar to the influenza that killed 600,000 Americans in 1918) leads the government to launch a nationwide vaccination campaign. The outbreak never materializes, but thousands of people suffer adverse effects from the vaccine, and lawsuits force the government to pay damages.Smallpox is declared eradicated in 1980 after a worldwide vaccination campaign lasting more than a decade. The U.S. government stopped inoculating Americans for the disease in 1972.In 1998, a scientific paper suggests a connection between one vaccine and autism. Congress holds hearings on the issue, which show a lack of scientific evidence supporting the theory. Still, the controversy gives rise to new concerns about the safety of vaccines.