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In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks sits down with medical historian Dr. Elena Conis, author of Vaccine Nation: America’s Changing Relationship with Immunization. Together they trace how U.S. attitudes toward vaccines (especially from the 1960s onward) have swerved with culture wars, political shifts, scientific discoveries, and biotech breakthroughs. From polio pride to modern pushback, they unpack why public trust rises and falls, how mandates gain or lose traction, and what sparks waves of skepticism.

What we cover

• Origin story: Why Dr. Conis wrote Vaccine Nation and the flashpoints that drew her in.
• 1960s → today: Civil‑rights activism, women’s liberation, environmentalism, and new tech reshape the vaccine narrative.
• Trust on a roller coaster: When enthusiasm morphed into doubt, and back again.
• Mandates & might: The tug‑of‑war between public‑health authority and personal choice.
• Anti‑vax waves: What ignited them, who rode them, and how they steered policy and science.
• Science vs. spin: How epidemiology, media, and politics co‑evolved.

Dr. Conis is a writer, historian of medicine, and an associate professor at the graduate school of journalism in the department of history at the University of California, Berkley. Previously she was a professor of history at Emory University and an award-winning health columnist for the Los Angeles Times. You can learn more about her here and order her book Vaccine Nation here.

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