La vaccination des bovidés contre la tuberculose en France, 1921-1963 : entre modèle épistémique et alternative à l’abattage

[paper in French] This paper focuses on the trajectory of the BCG vaccine used against bovine tuberculosis in France between 1921 and 1963. It shows how public health issues related to this disease are intimately linked with other issues, whether professional, industrial or of political economy. First, it analyses the way the Pasteur Institute, veterinarians and farmers got mobilized to transform the French legislation in order to gain more direct responsibilities in the control of bovine tuberculosis between 1930 and 1950. Second, it studies how farmers’ appropriation of prophylactic techniques contributed to redefine the sanitary policy against this disease in a global context of agricultural modernization promoted by the post-war French government, whereas at the same time, the new research orientation of the Pasteur Institute led to the abandon of the veterinary vaccine.