ABSTRACT
The notion of medicalization first appeared in the 1960s when sociologists began analyzing the increasing tendency in American society to view deviant behavior in terms of “sickness” rather than “badness.” Efforts to strengthen health security also involve changes to who practices security. Indeed, the rise of health security has been accompanied by a further increase in the social influence and status of a wide range of medical experts in deliberations about – and the provision of – security. That is part of a wider social process of medicalization that is seeing medicine emerge as an increasingly powerful sociopolitical institution in global politics. Vaccines in particular continue to be particularly important medical interventions that repeatedly surface in a variety of different health security deliberations. The World Health Organization points out that “vaccines are among the most important medical interventions for reducing illness and deaths” available.
