 | |||
For those anti-vaccinists, especially those that claim that government sponsored vaccination is a violation of the founding fathers’ principles, here is an insightful history of medicine article written by Dr. Howard Markel.
It seems like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were all pro-vaccine, despite the absence of an FDA. Smallpox was the scourge of the day and inoculation involved lancing open a wound and implanting dried scabs or fresh pus containing variola (smallpox virus) under the skin of a healthy, uninfected person.
Crude, yet effective.
It was not until 1796, when English physician, Edward Jenner, inoculated a boy with cowpox (rather than small doses of small pox), thereby conferring cross-immunity to smallpox, that modern day vaccination was born.
So, be a patriot. Get your vaccines
