The long history of public health panic, politics and backlash

A curious hallmark of the Covid-19 pandemic is the backlash that it has spawned. Right-wing politicians and their media allies are emboldened as they rage against masks and vaccines, spout conspiracy theories and attack doctors and scientists. Republican governors in Florida and Texas, where infections are raging among children, are blocking schools from mandating that children wear masks, a simple public health measure. Those same states are reporting that their ICUs are full, many of them with children. This type of behavior is not new. The Anti-Vaccination League of America was founded in 1908 just as a vaccine against smallpox — a disease that had killed millions — was being mandated by some states, while mandates were prohibited by others. The effort to blame China for the pandemic also has a familiar ring. “The idea of looking for scapegoats, of casting blame has taken on new life during Covid,” says Martin Halliwell, professor of American Studies at the University of Leicester in the UK. “Stigmatizing has a long narrative. There is a constant, the idea of looking for someone to blame.” Martin Halliwell tells the story of America’s social and political struggles around public health in his new book, American Health Crisis: 100 Years of Panic, Planning, and Politics. He discusses what is new and familiar about our current public health crisis.