Why, despite the fundamental changes Iran has undergone in recent decades, have vaccination policies been consistently successful? And to what extent has religion contributed to this success? Anthropologist Laurence Kotobi conducted field research there for several years in the mid-1990s. She observed that it was not religious and/or cultural factors that were decisive, and that one should therefore be wary of any culturalist stance. It is the combination of social, political, and economic representations and realities that explains this particular situation.