A mighty and horrible monster, with the horns of a bull, the hind hoofs of a horse, the jaws of a krakin, the teeth and claws of a tyger, the tail of a cow, all the evils of Pandora's box in his belly, plague, pestilence, leprosy, purple blotches, foetid ulcers, and filthy running sores covering his body, and an atmosphere of accumulated disease, pain and death around him, has made his appearance in the world, and devours mankind,--especially poor helpless infants,--not by scores only, or hundreds, or thousands, but by hundreds of thousands of thousands.

This monster has been named vaccination; and his progressive havoc among the human race, has been dreadful and most alarming.

Yet, strange to tell, this monster has found not only a multitude of friends but worshipers, who prostrate themselves before him, and encourage his voracious appetite.

Do not the men, the heroes--who first dared to stand forth to arrest the progress, and stop the fatal havoc of this most dreadful and destructive monster, and at length have bravely subdued and put him to flight with all his mighty host, merit an obelisk erected to their fame, with their names inscribed upon it, in indelible characters, to be held in grateful rememberence through all future generations?

And are not these names [Dr. Benjamin] MOSELEY, [Dr. William] ROWLEY, [Dr. John] BIRCH, SQUIRRELL, LIPSCOMB?

Testimonies of Medical Authorities on Vaccination
London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination

DR. SQUIRRELL, of the London Small-Pox Hospital, a Contemporary of JENNER,

Opposed vaccination on the ground that we have already too many maladies; that it affords no security against small pox; and that it was frequently followed by injurious consequences, in support of which conclusions he instanced thirty-nine cases....

JOHN BIRCH, Surgeon Extraordinary to the Prince of Wales, and Surgeon to St. Thomas's Hospital, 1804-7[:]

I have thought it a duty to publish my answer to the questions of the College of Surgeons, and my letter to the College of Physicians.  In the last of these I have adduced no less than seven cases of death caused by vaccination.  I could add more, but the cases adduced are enough to refute the assertions made to the House of Commons, that vaccination might be safely adopted because it was never fatal.

I have known several bad effects occur in consequence of vaccination.  The case of REBECCA LATCHFORD is published:  spring and fall she is usually visited with some eruption or suppuration about the face or arm.  I have also seen more than two cases similar to that of JOWLES, in which the face has been principally attacked.  By some vaccinators these eruptions are called scrofula [tuberculosis of the neck]:  but how can this be reconciled with the positive assurance of a justly celebrated surgeon, on which parliament relied; that neither scrofula, nor any other disease, was excited by vaccination.

Besides the singular eruptions above mentioned, I have seen many others of a very itching nature, and some shrivelled scaly skins consequent on cow-pox....

MR. BIRCH concludes as the result of observation and experience:

1.  That cow-pox has in more than one instance proved fatal.
2.  That cow-pox is productive of new appearances of disease, unknown before in the catalogue of human impurities.
3.  That cow-pox is not by any means to be depended on as a security against the natural small-pox.

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE FIRST VACCINE INSTITUTION:....

WILLIAM ROWLEY, a Member of the University of Oxford, and of the Royal College of Physicians in London; Physician Extraordinary to Her Majesty's Lying-in-Hospital, 1805; Public Lecturer on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, &c.

In 1805, wrote :--It results from the general resume of all these authentic facts, that out of 504 persons vaccinated in England, 75 died from the consequences, and almost all have had the small-pox, some sooner, some later, after their vaccination.  There is no question here of supposition or calculation of probability, it is truth!  It is evidence which seems to speak and leaves no doubt.  Now, if in the space of 7 or 8 years, (from 1798 to 1805,) vaccination has shown itself so grievous to society, what may we not fear for the future?  It will scarcely be imagined that the facts mentioned are all that might be cited to prove the inefficiency and dangers of the practice.  Alas! it is too certain that on all sides we meet with new instances of maladies such as those already detailed.  Consider England, France, Germany, Italy, and other countries, where vaccination has been received; penetrate into the interior of houses, into the bosom of families; interrogate fathers and mothers, and you will be surprised, shocked, and even enraged to see, not only tolerated but maintained, a murderous practice, which carries desolation into families, and compromises the reputation of those who protect or practise it.

Nevertheless, by the end of the nineteenth century--a century after Jenner published his report on vaccination, some were willing to accept vaccination as a major medical achievement.

SMALL-POX, or VARIOLA

...The cause of small-pox is universally allowed to be a specific contagion, of whose nature we are in the most profound ignorance. There is probably no disease so contagious as this.... The contagion acts either through the air, or by contact with the skin, or by inoculation; and the disease may be caused by the dead body, even when it has not been touched. What products of the diseased body are contagious is not exactly known, but the contents of the pustules and the dried scabs certainly are so. Opinions are divided as to the period at which the disease begins and ceases to be contagious.... [T]he stability of the contagious principle may be inferred from the fact, that clothing will retain it for months, and it is said for years, when confined....

It is universally admitted that the discovery of vaccination, by which small-pox is deprived of its danger, is the greatest triumph of modern medicine....

• smallpox was killing 2 million people a year
• eradication deemed unfeasible; control through vaccination more manageable
• attention focused on malaria

• USSR proposes program for global eradication of smallpox

• US commits to smallpox eradication program in Africa
• designed as an adjunct to measles vaccination program

• World Health Organization [WHO] launches global vaccination program despite widespread concern for its success