Vaccine Skeptics Should Heed George Washington's Example

[appalachiablue]

- History News Network/HNN, GW University, May 16, 2021. - Ed. By Robert Brent Toplin who was professor of history at the Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington and Denison Univ. and taught courses after retirement at UVA.

Health officials are welcoming celebrity endorsements of immunization, because approximately 30% of Americans are hesitant or opposed to getting the COVID vaccines. Stars from the entertainment world are promoting the vaccination campaign- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dolly Parton, Patrick Mahomes, and Oprah Winfrey. Former presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama are pitching vaccination as well. Yet it remains difficult to influence holdouts. Perhaps it would help the effort to persuade skeptics if officials cited an achievement of George Washington, a “celebrity” from history. During the American Revolution, General Washington required his troops to be immunized against smallpox. His example may impress vaccine skeptics.

Gen. Washington knew the horrors of smallpox from personal experience. In 1751 he accompanied his brother on a trip to the Caribbean. He hoped the tropical airs would aid his sibling’s recovery from “consumption” (tuberculosis). Washington contracted smallpox in Barbados. He survived but carried scars from the illness for the rest of his life. When Washington was Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, he learned how the scourge could weaken a fighting force. A smallpox epidemic struck American troops that invaded Canada in 1775-1776 and about 30% of those soldiers dropped out of action because of sickness. Eventually, with about 50% of troops infected, the Americans retreated. Smallpox, as well as blizzards and British troops, wrecked the campaign to bring Canada into the revolution.



- General George Washington, Commander of the Continental Army, 1776 by Charles Willson Peale.

Gen. Washington was disturbed by reports about the American army’s troubles in Canada and smallpox epidemics in Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities. If smallpox spread among his soldiers he wrote, “we shall have more dread for it, than the Sword of the Enemy.” He acted swiftly in 1777 to prevent infections among his soldiers; he required inoculation of all army recruits that had not developed immunity from previous bouts with smallpox. When he made his controversial decision, several political leaders in the colonies opposed variolation fearing the process could spread infections rather than minimize them. Washington dismissed these concerns. He wisely endorsed medical intervention. After mass inoculation, all but about 50 soldiers in his army survived the epidemic.

This history carries a lesson for present-day holdouts against COVID -19 vaccines. America’s revered “Founding Father” applied the rudimentary medical science of the 1770s when confronting a dangerous outbreak. His leadership saved the Continental Army and quite possibly saved the fight for American independence as well.
Despite impressive scientific advances, surveys show many Americans are now reluctant to get COVID-19 shots, more than 40% of Republicans are hesitant. Resistance is especially strong in rural areas and in southern states. Distrust is widespread geographically, however, and not confined to a few specific groups.. President Biden’s administration leaders recognize that many Americans are suspicious of claims about vaccine safety. So White House strategists are encouraging doctors and pharmacists to answer questions, provide confidence-building information, and administer shots.

Biden's team hopes vaccine skepticism can be reduced by the involvement of respected medical professionals...

More, https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/180224

[yonder]

1. Something's up with the timeline.

The first effective vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796.

https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html

[Phoenix61]

2. Washington used variolation not vaccination. nt

[appalachiablue]

3. Vaccination vs. Immunization vs. Inoculation: What's the Difference

Back in the 15th century, the word inoculate referred to grafting a bud (or another plant part) onto a separate plant in order to cultivate that new plant. It derived from the Latin verb inoculāre, meaning to graft or to implant, which itself derived from the Latin noun for eye or bud: oculus.

Over time, people started using it for just about anything implantable, literal or figurative; you could, for example, inoculate an idea into someone else’s mind.
> So when British physicians began experimenting with implanting smallpox pathogens into unafflicted patients in the 18th century, it made sense to call it “inoculation.” The process, which had long been practiced in Africa and Asia, involved transferring part of a smallpox blister into an open cut on a healthy person, so their immune system could learn how to fend off the disease without being overwhelmed by it.
> Since variola was the virus that caused smallpox, inoculation was sometimes called “variolation,” too.

Then, in the 1790s, a British doctor named Edward Jenner popularized the theory—already known among many dairy farmers—that exposure to cowpox could also immunize people against smallpox. Since the virus that caused cowpox was known as vaccinia (from vacca, the Latin word for cow), Jenner named the process of inoculating people with traces of cowpox “vaccination.”
> In other words, the word vaccine first referred only to cowpox injections that protected against smallpox.

> But as inoculation expanded to encompass diseases beyond smallpox, the words inoculation and vaccination (and their derivatives) expanded, too. By the early 20th century, people were mentioning them in reference to everything from anthrax to hay fever. Because inoculation was originally specific to transferring pathogenic matter through skin lesions—as opposed to injecting it via needle, nasal spray, etc.—it’s sometimes still used in that sense. But telling someone you got inoculated by needle wouldn’t be incorrect, by modern standards. And while vaccination is really only used to describe a process meant to protect against disease, inoculation has a slightly broader definition. You could, as Verywell Health points out, inoculate a culture with a sample of saliva just to see if certain pathogens are present.

Immunization, though often used as a synonym for vaccination or inoculation, more accurately refers to what comes after them. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s the “process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination.” In short, vaccination is the procedure where you actually receive a vaccine, and immunization is the process where your immune system builds up a resistance and (hopefully) makes you immune to the disease.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/641671/vaccination-vs-immunization-vs-inoculation-whats-difference
___________

(Harvard) .. The Boston Epidemic:
For over a year, from the spring of 1721 until winter 1722, a smallpox epidemic afflicted the city of Boston. Out of a population of 11,000, over 6000 cases were reported with 850 dying from the disease. Of a series of seven epidemics in the region during the 1700s, this was the most deadly [2]. Though tragic, the 1721 epidemic led to a major milestone in the history of vaccination and smallpox eradication.
> The use of inoculation during this epidemic, and the heated debate that arose surrounding the practice, was one of the first major applications of inoculations in western society, paving the way for Edward Jenner to develop smallpox vaccination by the end of the century.

- The Disease and Early Inoculation:
Smallpox is an ancient disease caused by the Variola virus. This virus exists in two main forms: Variola major, which historically has a mortality rate of around 30%, and the less severe Variola minor with a mortality rate around 1% [3]. Variola major is predominantly transmitted either by direct or indirect contact with the respiratory droplets from an infected individual [4]. The natural pathogenesis of Variola major begins with the infection of the mucous membrane of the upper respiratory system, then invasion of the bloodstream, and eventually the skin...

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/special-edition-on-infectious-disease/2014/the-fight-over-inoculation-during-the-1721-boston-smallpox-epidemic/

[yonder]

4. Yes, I jumped the gun because the dates seemed out of whack for the term I assumed you meant.

I should have dug a bit deeper before commenting and extend my apologies. On the plus side, I also learned something today too.

Most importantly though, the point of your OP is absolutely spot on.

[appalachiablue]

5. No problem it's a bit confusing and

I learned more by sorting it out as well. We're good.

Another one on vaccines and French use of the smallpox inclulation esp. after King Louis died. IF you haven't had enough, lol! History is a love.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/11661999