Editor,
The Logans' comments are most timely. The decision in January 1942 that United States military personnel should be vaccinated as soon as practical against yellow fever 1 was predicated by the active battlefields of World War II at that time. The US Army's 34th Infantry Division, National Guard from the Dakotas, Iowa and Minnesota, landed in Algiers on 8th November 1942. In Tunisia they were in 2nd Corps under the command of Patton and Tyrone-born Alexander. In Italy they landed at both Salerno and Anzio and attacked Monte Cassino. They captured Bologna on 21st April 1945.2
David E Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard University, and colleagues have recently written a survey of the benefits and costs of vaccination, including against yellow fever. The benefits and challenges world-wide are enormous. This paper sheds interesting light on mischief-makers from George Bernard Shaw to Prime Minister Blair.3
References
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- 2.US Army. Center for Military History. Combat Chronicle-34th Infantry Division. Available from: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/lineage/cc/034id.htm.
- 3.Bloom DE, Canning D, Weston M. The value of vaccination. World Economics. 2005;6(3):1–25. [Google Scholar]