Vaccine Choice Canada

Your Child. Your Future. Your Choice.

Donate Button
  • About Vaccines
    • Vaccination: Basic Concerns
      • Children’s Health in Decline
      • Contraindications to Vaccination
      • Parent’s Guide to Vaccination
      • Adverse Events – Unreported
      • Disease Trends
    • General Issues
      • Informed Consent – Mature Minor – Ethics
      • Politics of Vaccination
      • Healthcare Worker & Student Vaccines
      • Herd Immunity
      • Doctors Speak
      • Parents Speak
      • Reports
    • Specific Vaccines
    • Vaccine Ingredients
  • Health Risks
  • Science
  • Exemptions
    • Legal Exemption Forms
    • Canadian Medical Law
    • Ontario Daycare Exemptions
    • Immunization Not Mandatory in Canada
    • Threats to Exemptions
    • Take Action / Events
  • Personal Stories
  • Alternatives
    • Alternatives – Specific Infections
  • Articles
  • Resources
    • Child Health Links
    • Pro-vaccine websites
    • Video & Audio
  • Home
  • About VCC
    • Policy Statement on Vaccination
    • Who We Are & What We Do
    • VCC History
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • Join
  • Report a Reaction
  • Bookstore
  • Contact
  • Member’s Area
    • Journal Archive
  • Site Map
  • Media
You are here: Home / Specific Vaccines / Smallpox Vaccine / Smallpox – A Historical Perspective

Smallpox – A Historical Perspective

October 2, 2008 By Vaccine Choice Canada

By Gary Krasner

October 22, 2001

The public is now getting lot’s of medical propaganda about the eradication of smallpox through vaccination. But in fact, the consensus among leading medical historians that have studied the question have concluded that the eradication of the zymotic, or “filth” diseases, like cholera, dysentary, typhus, plague, in the past that are popularly attributed to mass vaccination campaigns, had actually been due to improvements in diet, hygiene, sanitary measures, non-medical public health laws, and to a host of new non-medical technologies, like refrigeration, faster transportation, and the like (McKinlay, 1977; McKeown, 1979; Moberg & Cohen, 1991; Oppenheimer, 1992; Dubos, 1959).

The CDC reported (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, July 30, 1999, 48:621-628) that improvements in sanitation, water quality, hygiene, had been the most important factors in control of infectious diseases in the past century. Although vaccines were mentioned, they were not included among the major factors.

One of the conclusions in Thomas McKeown’s seminal work, “The Modern Rise Of Populations” (1976, also endorsed by a Lancet editorial, 2/1/75), was that the decline in mortality in the 18th and 19th centuries was essentially due to the reduction in deaths from infectious diseases, and that it was not the result of immunizations. Similar studies by scholars John & Sonia McKinlay (1977) shows that almost all the increase in human lifespan since the year 1900 is due to reductions in infectious disease, with medical intervention (of all kinds) accounting for only about 3 per cent of that reduction. According to World Health Statistics Annual, 1973-76, vol.2, “there has been a steady decline of infectious diseases in most developing countries regardless of the percentage of immunizations administered in these countries.”

Before health agencies and schools of public health were completely taken over by allopathic medicine, the great legacy of the sanitary reformers—Max von Penttenkofer, James T. Briggs, Dr. John Snow, Edwin Chadwick, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Southwood Smith—was that they were able to eradicate cholera, yellow fever, tuberculosis, typhus, typhoid, scarlet fever, diptheria, whooping cough, measles and the bubonic plague long before vaccinations were developed or routinely used.

Not only had poor sanitation and nutrition lay the foundation for disease, it was also compulsory smallpox vaccination campaigns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that played a major role in decimating the populations of Japan (48,000 deaths), England & Wales (44,840 deaths, after 97 per cent of the population had been vaccinated), Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, India (3 million—all vaccinated), Australia, Germany (124,000 deaths), Prussia (69,000 deaths—all revaccinated), and the Philippines. The epidemics ended in cities where smallpox vaccinations were either discontinued or never begun, and also after sanitary reforms were instituted (Most notably in Munich-1880, Leicester-1878, Barcelona-1804, Alicante-1827, India-1906, etc.).

In many nations, mortalities from smallpox hadn’t begun to decline until the citizenry revolted against compulsory smallpox vaccination laws. For example, the town of Leicester from 1878 to 1898 stood in stark contrast to the rest of England where thousands were dying from the aggressive half century-old government mandatory immunization campaigns.

By 1907, the Vaccination Acts of England were repealed, with the help of some of the world’s preeminent scientists who had turned staunchly against vaccination: Alfred Russel Wallace (one of the founders of modern evolutionary biology and zoogeography, and co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the Theory of Natural selection), Charles Creighton (Britain’s most learned epidemiologist and medical historian), William Farr (epidemiologist and medical statistician, first to describe how seasonal epidemics rise and fall—known today as Farr’s Law”), and the renowned Dr. Edgar M. Crookshank, Professor of Bacteriology and Comparative Pathology in King’s College, London, and author of the scathing scientific critique of vaccination, The History and Pathology of Vaccination (1889). But before the law was amended in 1898 to include a conscientious exemption clause, an average of 2,000 parents per year were jailed and prosecuted—some repeatedly—for resisting vaccination. Large numbers went to prison in default of paying fines. Hundreds had their homes and possessions seized.

By 1919, England and Wales had become one of the least vaccinated countries, and had only 28 deaths from smallpox, out of a population of 37.8 million people. By contrast, during that same year, out of a population of 10 million—all triply vaccinated over the prior 6 years—the Philippine Islands registered 47,368 deaths from smallpox. The epidemic came after the culmination of a ruthless 15-year compulsory vaccination campaign by the U.S., in which the native population—young and old— were forcibly vaccinated (several times), literally against their will. In a speech condemning the smallpox vaccine reprinted in the Congressional Record of 12/21/37, William Howard Hay, M.D. said, “ . . . the Philippines suffered the worst attack of smallpox, the worst epidemic three times over, that had ever occurred in the history of the islands, and it was almost three times as fatal. The death rate ran as high as 60 per cent in certain areas, where formerly it had been 10 and 15 per cent.” In the province of Rizal, for example, smallpox mortalities increased from an average 3 per cent (before vaccination) to 67 per cent during 1918 and 1919. All told, after 10 years (1911-1920) of a compulsory U.S. program which administered 25 million vaccinations to the Philippine population of 10 million, there had been 170,000 cases, and more than 75,000 deaths from smallpox.

Inducing the public to clamour for smallpox vaccines for every American will lead to a repeat of the aforementioned tragic events. In many additional examples, cases the sickness, injuries and deaths commonly attributed to the microbe were actually due, wholly or in part, to the poisoning effects of vaccination campaigns: from the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918-19 that killed 20 million following the administration of anti-typhoid inoculations, to the 1976 Swine flu “epidemic” (among hogs!) that permanently crippled a “meager” few thousand Americans with Guillain-Barré syndrome following an ill-advised national vaccination program. Paralytic diseases have been recorded hundreds of years ago. But epidemic numbers hadn’t appeared until the latter part of the 19th century, right after compulsory smallpox vaccination was instituted.

Reprinted with permission of the author.

“If humanity is to pass safely through its present crisis on earth, it willbe because a majority of individuals are now doing their own thinking”.
–Buckminster Fuller

Share this:

Filed Under: Smallpox Vaccine, Specific Vaccines Tagged With: Smallpox Vaccine

Articles by Category

  • About Vaccines
    (179)
    • Adverse Events
      (106)
    • Compensation
      (6)
    • Contraindications
      (1)
    • Herd Immunity
      (11)
    • Informed Consent – Mature Minor – Ethics
      (80)
    • Reports
      (13)
  • Disease Trends
    (27)
  • Doctors Speak
    (54)
  • Exemptions
    (171)
    • Take Action
      (111)
    • Threats to Exemptions
      (153)
  • Health Risks
    (147)
    • Anaphylaxis, Allergies, and Asthma
      (26)
    • Autism
      (55)
    • Brain and Neurological Injuries
      (37)
    • Cancer
      (3)
    • Decline in Children's Health
      (26)
    • Gulf War Syndrome
      (4)
    • Infertility
      (1)
    • Obesity and Diabetes
      (4)
    • Pregnancy – Risks to the Foetus
      (5)
    • SIDS-SBS
      (12)
  • Media
    (83)
  • Parents Speak
    (32)
  • Personal Stories
    (28)
  • Politics of Vaccination
    (40)
  • Resources
    (61)
    • Books & Periodicals
      (1)
    • PDF files
      (3)
    • Videos
      (0)
  • Specific Vaccines
    (228)
    • Chickenpox and Shingles Vaccines
      (12)
    • COVID-19 Vaccine
      (10)
    • Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, and Hib Vaccine
      (38)
    • Healthcare Worker & Student Vaccines
      (15)
    • Hepatitis-B Vaccine
      (20)
    • HPV Vaccine
      (19)
    • Influenza Vaccine
      (46)
    • Measles, Mumps, & Rubella Vaccine
      (47)
    • Meningococcal Disease Vaccine
      (9)
    • Pet Vaccines
      (1)
    • Pneumococcal Disease Vaccine
      (4)
    • Polio Vaccine
      (13)
    • Rotavirus Vaccine
      (1)
    • Smallpox Vaccine
      (4)
    • Travel Vaccines
      (1)
  • Vaccine Alternatives
    (13)
    • Vaccine Alternatives – General
      (7)
    • Vaccine Alternatives – Specific Infections
      (6)
  • Vaccine Ingredients
    (69)
    • Aluminum
      (23)
    • Biological Ingredients
      (15)
    • Chemical Ingredients
      (15)
    • Food Allergens
      (4)
    • Mercury
      (24)
    • Oil-based Adjuvants
      (11)

Join Vaccine Choice Canada

To support our educational and outreach work , please join Vaccine Choice Canada today. Sign Me Up!

Log In


Lost your password?

About Vaccine Choice Canada

Vaccine Choice Canada is a volunteer run, federally registered … read more

Our Mission

Vaccine Choice Canada (formerly VRAN) continues the work of … more

Disclaimer

The contents of this website are for informational purposes … more

Vaccine Choice Canada logo

Find More on

  • Decline in Children's Health
    (26)
  • Doctors Speak
    (54)
  • Exemptions
    (130)
  • Health Risks
    (39)
  • Parents Speak
    (32)
  • Personal Stories
    (28)
  • Resources
    (60)
  • Specific Vaccines
    (92)
  • Vaccine Alternatives
    (8)
  • Vaccine Ingredients
    (22)

Personal Stories

Susan’s Flu Vaccine Reaction

In 2013, I contracted the H1N1 strain of flu.  I was deathly … [Read More...]

My Journey with Vaccine Awareness and a closer look at Vaxxed vs. Unvaxxed

I was born in the mid 1980’s and was fully vaccinated as a … [Read More...]

A story of my grandson’s visit, discovery of his autism, and how he recovered

By Shanna Mi    November 2019 It was a glorious late … [Read More...]

Laura’s Story

July 2002 Today is my daughter's sweet 16th birthday but … [Read More...]

More Personal Stories

Featured Articles

COVID-19

COVID-19 Resources (printable) & Take Action – Letter … [Read More...]

News Nuggets April 2, 2021 – Top News Items

Compiled by Edda West FEATURES Naomi Wolf speaks to … [Read More...]

News Nuggets March 26, 2021- Top News Items

Compiled by Edda West FEATURES Vera Sharav - Holocaust … [Read More...]

Media Release – VCC Releases Recommendations for Vaccine Injury Accountability and Compensation Program

Send this press release to your local newspaper, elected … [Read More...]

More News Articles

Copyright © 2021 Vaccine Choice Canada