Vaccination: history and sociology, in the light of immunology Vaccinating is a medical act of prevention of infectious diseases that has been proven for more than two centuries to be effective, whose symbol is the eradication of smallpox, which was its first target. To understand the social issues involved in this practice, we must call on historians to identify the different actors and their relationships (public authorities, health professionals, drug manufacturers), to draw the consequences of accidents that may have marked, on epidemiologists to define the notion of maximum coverage threshold, those of individual immunity and group or gregarious immunity, to sociologists to understand their acceptability, mistrust or refusal by the population and to immunologists who have progressively build the conceptual support to better understand the physiology of the immune response involved in this initially empirical practice, and thereby improve its performance. MOTS CLÉS ◗ politique vaccinale ◗ seuil de couverture vaccinale ◗ vaccination ◗ vaccins KEY WORDS ◗ vaccination ◗ vaccination coverage threshold ◗ vaccination policy ◗ vaccines AMM : Autorisation de mise sur le marché ANSM : Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament BCG : Bacille de Calmette et Guérin BEH : Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire CRPV : Centres régionaux de pharmacovigilance CTV : Conseil technique des vaccinations HCSP : Haut Conseil de la santé publique MAI : Maladies auto-immunes ROR : Vaccin anti-rougeole, oreillons et rubéole