Updated: May 2025
Published: Dec. 2020
High-quality documentaries on major vaccine successes and controversies.
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Contents: A) Official perspective B) Skeptical perspectives C) More references
SPR Media Archive: Vaccine Controversies (Video Collection)
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A. Official Perspective
A1. The Polio Story: The Vaccine That Changed the World (BBC)
Summary: “It was 1952, and polio gripped the world in fear. There was no known cause, no cure and no help in sight for parents desperate to protect their children. Eager to beat the potentially fatal condition, polio-afflicted US President Roosevelt inspired the American public to send in their dimes to fund research. In just a few years Joseph Salk, an ambitious 33-year-old scientist, would bring infantile paralysis to its knees and change the course of medical history.”
Criticism: On the pesticides/polio hypothesis, see section B1 below.
Year: 2015; Duration: 45 minutes; Director: Tjardus Greidanus; Producer: BBC
A2. Hilleman: A Perilous Quest to Save the World’s Children (2016)
Summary: “The greatest scientist of the 20th century, and no one knows his name. This documentary tells the inspiring story of Dr. Maurice Hilleman, a man with a singular, unwavering focus: to eliminate the diseases of children. Responsible for more than half of the vaccines children receive today, he is credited with saving more than eight million lives every year.”
Year: 2016; Duration: 60 minutes; Producer: Medical History Pictures
A3. The Vaccine War (PBS, 2010/2015)
Summary: “Vaccines have changed the world, largely eradicating a series of terrible diseases, from smallpox to polio to diphtheria, and likely adding decades to most of our life spans. But despite the gains — and numerous scientific studies indicating vaccine safety — a growing movement of parents remains fearful of vaccines. And in some American communities, significant numbers of parents have been rejecting vaccines altogether, raising new concerns about the return of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough.”
Year: 2010/2015; Duration: 53 min.; Producer: PBS Frontline;
A4. Historical documentaries
- From Jenner to Wakefield: The long shadow of the anti-vaccination movement (Gresham College, 2011, 60 min.) “In 1998 a medical furore broke out when The Lancet published an article by Andrew Wakefield questioning the benefits of the MMR vaccination which was being given unquestioningly to children throughout the UK. Coming 202 years after the first vaccination by Edward Jenner, which led to the eradication of smallpox throughout the world, this recent incident is only the latest in a long history of questioning the benefits of vaccination.”
- The Silent Invader (Westinghouse, 1957, 30min) “This film discusses how the United States is preparing for an outbreak of Asian influenza. Prominent physicians and the head of the US Public Health Service address types of influenza, the nature of the virus, mortality rates, spread patterns, vaccines, the physician’s responsibility, and medical advice for people who fall ill.”
- Mission, Measles: The Story of a Vaccine (Merck and USPHS, 1964, 20 min.) “This documentary details the history of the highly contagious virus that causes measles and the development of the measles vaccine in the 1950s and early 1960s. The pharmaceutical company Merck with help from the U.S. Public Health Service produced the film.”
B. Skeptical Perspectives
B1. Polio: “The Founding Myth Of Modern Medicine” (2024)
A documentary about the pesticides-polio hypothesis and the polio vaccine controversies.
Read more:
- Pesticides and Polio: A Critique of Scientific Literature (Jim West, Whale, 2002)
- Standard explanation: How modern sanitation gave us polio (NextNature, 2014)
- Criticism: Wrong About Polio (Joel A. Harrison, Science-Based Medicine, 2018)
Year: 2024; Duration: 80 min.; Author: Jefferey Jaxen (The High Wire)
B2. From Smallpox To Covid: 226 Years Of Vaccine Deceptions
Summary: “Dr Suzanne Humphries, author of the 2013 book ‘Dissolving Illusions’, reviews the history of vaccination and the claim that lives were made longer and better by vaccines.”
See also:
- Book: Dissolving Illusions (Humphries, 2013)
- Criticism: Dr Humphries is lying about measles (VV, 2014)
Year: 2023/2025; Duration: 30 min.; Author: Dr Suzanne Humphries; Full talk: Odysee
B3. Vaxxed: From Cover Up To Catastrophe (2016)
Summary: “An investigation into how the CDC, the government agency charged with protecting the health of American citizens, destroyed data on a 2004 study that showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. This alarming deception has contributed to the skyrocketing increase of autism, potentially the most catastrophic epidemic of our lifetime.”
See also:
- Sequel: Vaxxed II: The People’s Truth (90 min., 2019)
- Criticism: Review of the documentary (Wikipedia)
- Criticism: Review of Vaxxed II (The Guardian)
Year: 2016; Duration: 90 min.; Producers: Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree
B4. The Wakefield Case: Where is the Real Fraud? (2022)
Summary: “A summary of the infamous case that started the entire modern vaccine safety debate. A 2022 documentary by Italian investigative filmmaker Massimo Mazzucco.”
Year: 2022; Duration: 30 min.; Producers: Massimo Mazzucco
B5. Why Some Vaccines May Increase Deaths (2018)
Summary: “Vaccines do much more than protect against the disease they are designed for. In this talk from TEDxAarhus 2018, medical doctor and professor in global health, Christine Stabell Benn, explains how hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved every year just by using the existing vaccines smarter.”
Year: 2018; Duration: 20 min.; Author: Christine Stabell Benn (TEDx)
B6. 1976 Swine Flu Fiasco (CBS, 1979)
Summary: “Remember the swine flu scare of 1976? That was the year the U.S. government told us all that swine flu could turn out to be a killer that could spread across the nation, and Washington decided that every man, woman and child in the nation should get a shot to prevent a nation-wide outbreak, a pandemic. Well, 46 million of us obediently took the shot, and now 4,000 Americans are claiming damages from Uncle Sam amounting to three and a half billion dollars because of what happened when they took that shot.”
Year: 1979; Duration: 15 min.; Producer: CBS 60 Minutes; See also: history.com
B7. The Swine Flu Business (ARTE, 2009)
Summary: “The current [2009] wave of influenza is scaring people around the world. Hundreds of millions of euros are being made available for medicines and vaccines. Tax money has probably never been spent so quickly and unchecked as in the fight against the new flu virus. Has a mass hysteria gripped us or is the new flu really a deadly threat? In either case, there are tangible interests at stake. More and more scientists are criticizing the actions of authorities.”
Read more:
- Why the WHO faked a pandemic (Michael Fumento, Forbes, 2010, archived)
- From where did the 2009 ‘swine flu’ virus emerge? (Virology Journal, 2009)
- Video: The Tamiflu Anti-Viral Drug Deception (ABC Catalyst, 2015)
Year: 2009; Duration: 60 min.; Producer: ARTE; Language: DE/EN
B8. The Origins of AIDS (CBC, 2004)
Summary: “Did scientists inadvertently cause the AIDS epidemic? More than 20 years after the AIDS epidemic started, we still do not know its origins. Many believe that the answer is hidden in the research undertaken to find a cure to the polio epidemic. As the scientific community’s ethical responsibilities are called into question, the debate over the origins of AIDS rages on.”
Read more:
- Wikipedia: Oral polio vaccine hypothesis of AIDS
- Articles: Polio vaccines and the origin of AIDS
- Compendium: The HIV/AIDS Controversy (SPR)
Year: 2004; Duration: 45 min.; Producers: Channel 4 and CBC
B9. Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons (2025)
Summary: “This true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time—Lyme disease—and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.”
Year: 2025; Duration: 20 min.; Author: Kris Newby; Website: The Bitten Files
B10. Big Pharma as Organized Crime (2015)
Summary: “In his latest ground-breaking book, Peter C. Gotzsche exposes the pharmaceutical industries and their charade of fraudulent behaviour, both in research and marketing where the morally repugnant disregard for human lives is the norm. He convincingly draws close comparisons with the tobacco conglomerates, revealing the extraordinary truth behind efforts to confuse and distract the public and their politicians.”
Year: 2015; Duration: 10 min.; Website: Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime
B11. German Documentaries
ZDF, 2008: Das Pharmakartell (45 Minuten): “Das Pharmakartell ist ein mehrfach ausgezeichneter ZDF-Dokumentarfilm aus dem Jahr 2008. Der Film beleuchtet mit investigativen Recherchen und anhand zahlreicher Interviews mit Betroffenen und Insidern die Produkte und Geschäftspraktiken der Pharmaindustrie.”
SIS, 2010: Dr. Klaus Hartmann zu Impfstoff-Sicherheit (60 Minuten): “”Dr. Hartmann ist einer der wichtigsten deutschen Whistleblower zum Thema Impfstoffzulassung und Impfstoffsicherheit. Er war 10 Jahre beim Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), der deutschen Zulassungsbehörde für Impfstoffe, tätig und dort für Impfstoffsicherheit zuständig. In diesem Vortrag berichtet er, wie das PEI und auch die europäische Zulassungsbehörde mit dem Thema Sicherheit umgehen.”
ORF, 2015: Die Pharmalobby (50 Minuten) “Bereits ein vorsichtiger Blick hinter die Kulissen der Pharmabranche zeigt, dass oft nicht die Gesundheit der Menschen, sondern der unternehmerische Profit die Richtung der Konzerne vorgibt. Meinungsbildende Ärzte werden ebenso mit lukrativen Angeboten geködert wie die Patientenverbände.”
ViaVeto, 2018: Vom Unsinn des Impfens (10 Minuten) “Der historische Rückgang der Fall- und Todeszahlen der klassischen sogenannten Infektionskrankheiten muß immer als Beweis dafür herhalten, daß Impfungen wirken. Aber tatsächlich beweist der historische Verlauf das genaue Gegenteil.”
ARTE, 2022: Impfen: Die ganze Geschichte (90 Minuten): “Der Dokumentarfilm lässt Fachleute zu Wort kommen und beleuchtet den Stand der Forschung und untersucht Aspekte wie Immunität, Nutzen und Risiken oder die Sinnhaftigkeit gesundheitspolitischer Entscheidungen.”
C. Additional References
- Article: Deadly Immunity (Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Salon, 2005; archived) “When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data — and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic.”
- Documentary: TrustWHO (2018, Franck/Schlottmann, 90 minutes): “The World Health Organization (WHO) was founded with the aim of building a healthier future for everyone. It’s the body we rely on to resolve all public health crises, but can it be trusted? This powerful investigative doc uncovers an alarming picture of corruption and opacity as filmmaker Lilian Franck asks whether the organisation can be trusted to keep the public healthy.”
- Book: The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It (Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, 2004) “During her two decades at The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell had a front-row seat on the appalling spectacle of the pharmaceutical industry. She watched drug companies stray from their original mission of discovering and manufacturing useful drugs and instead become vast marketing machines with unprecedented control over their own fortunes.”
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