RESUMEN
Two interrelated universal practices, humanitarian medicine and immunization, pose certain ethical problems. To shed light on the matter, we present some historical reference points indispensable to an understanding of contemporary vaccination programs, focusing especially on certain anthropological issues posed by this practice as far as representations of the body and of health within populations. Two examples of humanitarian vaccination practices, one used among an autochthonous population and the other among young people on the street, serve to illustrate some thoughts on management of the body and on the resistance displayed by these groups. We then propose paths to follow in re-examining the ethics of vaccination.
Asunto(s)
Antropología/historia , Ética/historia , Vacunación/historia , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXIRESUMEN
Two interrelated universal practices humanitarian medicine and immunization, pose certain ethical problems. To shed light on the matter, we present some historical reference points indispensable to an understanding of contemporary vaccination programs, focusing especially on certain anthropological issues posed by this practice as far as representaions of the body and of health within populations. Two examples of humanitarian vaccination practices, one used among an autochthonous population and the other among young people on the street, serve to illustrate some thoughts on managements of the body and on the resistance displayedby these groups. We then propose paths to follow in re-examining the ethics of vaccination.