Vaccination: 300 Years of Debate

Vaccination Concerns

Cover of Evils of a Health Bureau. 1910

Evils of a Health Bureau. New York: The National League for Medical Freedom, 1910.“The object of this League shall be to disseminate information pertaining to, and to safeguard through the education and publicity, the rights of the American people against unnecessary, unjust, oppressive, paternal and un-American laws ostensibly related to the subject of health.”

Massey, Edmund. A Letter to Mr. Maitland, in Vindication of the Sermon Against Inoculation. 1722Reverend Edmund Massey discusses how diseases like smallpox are sent by God either as a trial of faith or as punishment for sins. He concludes that to inoculate is to interfere directly with God’s will, changing the course of nature. The sermon referred to is a published work, A Sermon Against the Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation : Preach'd at St. Andrew's Holborn, on Sunday, July the 8th, 1722.

Massey, Edmund. A Letter to Mr. Maitland, in Vindication of the Sermon Against Inoculation. 1722

Reverend Edmund Massey discusses how diseases like smallpox are sent by God either as a trial of faith or as punishment for sins. He concludes that to inoculate is to interfere directly with God’s will, changing the course of nature. The sermon referred to is a published work, A Sermon Against the Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation : Preach'd at St. Andrew's Holborn, on Sunday, July the 8th, 1722.

Cover of Vaccination: A Journal of Health, Justice, and Liberty, That Tells the Truth About Vaccination, 1903

Cover of Vaccination: A Journal of Health, Justice, and Liberty, That Tells the Truth About Vaccination, 1903

Cover image of Warning: Vaccinations are Dangerous! [2007?]

Cover image of Warning: Vaccinations are Dangerous! [2007?]

Vaccination reaction, image from Acute Contagious Diseases. 1905

"Sloughing at the vaccination site accompanying an unusually inflammatory vaccination" - Welch & Schamberg

Baker's News, or, the Whitehall Journal. Image from printed response, "To the Reverend Mr. Massey" from James Baker. No. 14, August 21, 1722

Vaccination is not free from risks, a focal point for many opponents of vaccination. In the past, infection at the vaccination site could occur. Along with potential health risks, religious and political figures have argued against vaccination from a variety of perspectives. Some advocate for freedom of choice, while others contend that government intervention causes more harm than diseases themselves. Religious works from the eighteenth century to the present day speak to the “evils” of vaccination from the perspectives of fundamentalist groups.

Vaccination Concerns

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