From collective vaccination to vaccination 'for personal reasons'.

'Discovered' at the beginning of the millenium, 'variolation' was aimed at protecting individuals against smallpox which caused high mortality marred their appearance. After the discovery of the protective effects of the vacc ine by Jenner, at the end of the 18th century, began the era of systematic, collective and mandatory vaccination, aimed at protecting the entire popul ation. Vaccination at first allowed prevention of smallpox (and subsequentl y its eradication), and later prevention of many infectious diseases. Immun ization campaigns were considered to be a public health procedure: their co ercive nature put an end to the spreading of contagious diseases, and even led to eradication of a certain number of them, despite various opposition movements. Advances in vaccinology also led to vaccination 'for personal re asons', i.e., immunization protecting an individual against an infectious b ut not contagious disease without any true benefit to society. Though vacci nation appears to be definitely related to prevention, 'therapeutic vaccina tion', i.e., vaccination intended to boost immune responses in already infe cted individuals, comes to the fore. As mankind's great scourges have been overcome, mainly due to the introduction of vaccines, research is now focus ing more particularly on vaccination 'for personal reasons'. However, epide mics still threaten. Only collective and mandatory vaccinations will preven t their reemergence.