This study analyzes “SHOTS,” a World War II-era postcard depicting a soldier receiving a vaccine while an observer watches with concern. “SHOTS” is an example of vintage postcard depictions of medical inoculations in general and military inoculations in particular. I argue that “SHOTS” served not only an epistolary postal function but also a potential inoculative function, reflecting inoculation theory-informed health messaging to speak to attitudes and beliefs about vaccination and boosting some resistance to vaccine hesitation. This study offers an innovative, rhetorical application of a theory more often used to guide experimental investigations of health messaging strategies.
Compton, J. (2024, November). Inoculation postcards: Regarding W. Morgan’s ‘SHOTS’ as 1940s health communication. National Communication Association Annual Convention: New Orleans, LA.
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