ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how vaccine refusal may emerge from a commitment to relatively universal ideals of bodily purity. Neil Miller, the author of many best-selling anti-vaccine books. Contemporary vaccine refusers sometimes express disgust that vaccines contain aborted fetal tissue. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has advocated the development of vaccines that do not rely on cell lines derived from fetal tissues, though it teaches that it is morally permissible to receive current vaccines. Early vaccine refusers often claimed that vaccines contaminated the body in ways that compromised a person's spiritual status. Mark Largent argues that public health officials make a serious error if they conclude that religious convictions contribute much to contemporary vaccine refusal. The idea of childhood innocence may also contribute to vaccine refusal in a different way. Barbara Loe Fisher, the founder of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), claims that physicians are so interested in preserving their power that they are unwilling to listen to parents.
