Small box has been around since 3rd century BCE Egypt. Experts believe the disease evolved from an African rodent virus. In 18th century Europe, about 400,000 people died from the disease per year. Experts estimate smallpox to have killed 300 million people in the 20th century, and 500 million from 1877 to 1977 alone.
The first cases of inoculation for smallpox were in China in the 1500s. In 1796, Edward Jenner introduced the modern smallpox vaccine. A deadly smallpox epidemic ripped through the northeastern U.S. in 1901. In Boston, there were 1,596 cases of smallpox. In response to the outbreak, Boston and Cambridge boards of health ordered all residents to get vaccinated. The boards hoped to get herd immunity by getting 90% of the residents vaccinated. Cambridge ordered the closing of all schools, public libraries and churches to stem the spread of the disease. If a resident refused to get vaccinated, they faced a $5 fine (equivalent to $150 today).
Many people didn’t believe in the science or validity of the smallpox vaccine. In fact, there were Anti-vaccination groups, who cited alleged cases of death and deformity from the vaccine. They called compulsory vaccination “the greatest crime of the age,” and that it “slaughters tens of thousands of innocent children.”
Newspapers characterized the smallpox vaccination fight as, “a conflict between intelligence and ignorance, civilization and barbarism.” The New York Times dismissed anti-vaccine activists as “a familiar species of cranks,” who were “deficient in the power to judge science.”
Henning Jacobson was a pastor in Cambridge. When he was a kid, he had been vaccinated for smallpox in Sweden. The experience caused him great and extreme suffering. When it came time for Jacobson to get vaccinated again because of the outbreak, he refused the vaccination for himself and his son. Jacobson fought the $5 fine in a state court. The case then got heard on appeal by the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
Jacobson tried to present evidence that vaccines were dangerous and ineffective. The judges refused to hear the argument, however the court considered whether, “compulsion to introduce disease into a healthy bodily system violates a human’s personal liberties.” More specifically, the personal liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. The Massachusetts Supreme Court rejected Jacobson’s claims, instead siding with the state’s public health officials’ decision making to determine the best methods to fight a pandemic. Jacobson appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jacobson showed up to the Supreme Court accompanied by officials of the Massachusetts Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Association. His lawyers argued that the Cambridge vaccination order violated Jacobson’s 14th amendment rights, which forbade the state from “depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The legal question was whether the right to refuse vaccination is a protected liberty under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court ruled against Jacobson. Justice John Marshall Harlan acknowledged the fundamental importance of personal freedom, but also recognized that “the rights of the individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand.” This decision established the reasonableness test. The test states the government has the authority to pass laws that restrict individual liberty if the courts found those restrictions, including the punishment for violating them, to be a reasonable means for achieving a public good. We know this case as Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
The last naturally occurring case of Smallpox happened in 1977. The World Health Organization certified the global eradication of Smallpox in 1980. These milestones occurred because of the vaccine.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, many states issued lockdown orders that closed businesses and prohibited large gatherings. The courts upheld these mandates by citing Jacobson v. Massachusetts. It was the most recent Supreme Court ruling on the matter, though it was 155 years old. Some states went too far, however.
In Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Andrew M. Cuomo, the Supreme Court decided that the State of New York violated the constitutional rights of citizens wanting to safely gather in churches and synagogues during the pandemic. Reasoning for the ruling, was that the laws barred religious gatherings altogether, but still allowed secular business to operate at limited capacity. The ruling doesn’t completely over rule Jacobson. The New York law violated First Amendment rights and wasn’t equally restricting to all.
Mistakes Were Made:
During the Spanish Flu Pandemic, there was a strong anti-mask movement against wearing masks. Make America Great Again (MAGA), was a slogan first used by Ronald Reagan during his 1980 presidential run. Anti-Immigrant movements have been plenty in U.S. history. States rights were first advocated by Thomas Jefferson when he ran for President in 1800. We repeated the mistakes of Vietnam with Afghanistan. Anti-vaccination advocates were strongly against the smallpox vaccine.
In human nature and history, there really is nothing new under the sun. Vaccinations helped eradicate smallpox, will it do the same for COVID-19? Only time will tell. What we know for certain is there will always be a side for and against compulsory vaccination.
Both sides believe they are doing the Lord’s works in their endeavors, while each also believes the other side is wacko or being government sheep. The mixture of misinformation and factual information confuses the public and we end up with claws and battle lines drawn and ordinary citizens willing to break the law or hurt others to protect their freedoms and rights.
I believe the people can be misled, but I also believe the government has its own agendas that may conflict with what its citizens think or want. Everyone needs to take a step back and think of the greater good. That greater good is the health and wellbeing of your family, neighbors and fellow citizens. We get so caught up with our me centric vision of the world that we forget there are billions of other people we share earth with. That should be our most important thought when/if you decide to get vaccinated or not.
