Turning to the story of smallpox vaccination, we see an almost blind faith and disregard of available evidence in the much-touted anecdote ‘smallpox has been eradicated by vaccination’.
- In England free smallpox vaccines were introduced in 1840 and made compulsory in 1853.
- Between 1857 and 1859 there were 14,244 deaths from smallpox.
- Between 1863 and 1865 after a population rise of 7%, the death rate rose by 40.8% to 20,059.
- In 1867 evaders of vaccination were prosecuted. Those left unvaccinated were very few.
- Between 1870 and 1872 after a population rise of 9%, the death rate rose by 123% to 44,840.Then we see the phenomena of reclassification, at the time all authorities agree that chickenpox is non-fatal.
- Yet in the 30 years up to 1934, 3,112 people are stated to have died of chickenpox and only 579 of smallpox in England and Wales.
Smallpox was the first illness to be targeted with a mass vaccination campaign in 1840, which in fact lead to a dramatic increase in death rates from smallpoxwhen most other illnesses without vaccines were experiencing a steady decline…