Grifters, cynics, and true believers: The family tree of vaccine opponents

This article examines the origins of the most common arguments against vaccines—that they are unnatural, more dangerous than disease, or an affront to freedom—tracing how innocent skepticism from the earliest vaccine development ultimately hardened into ideology. The analysis demonstrates that much of today's anti-vaccine rhetoric is centuries old, dating back to 18th-century smallpox inoculations.

Source: Ars Technica | 2026-05-30