Vaccinator

“ A successful vaccination causes a sore identical with the sores that result from smallpox. 2. A fly blister is not a vaccination in any sense of the word. 3. A very sore arm does not result from a properly performed vaccination, but from carelessness on the part of the vaccinator or the person vaccinated. ”

“ But in the case of vaccination, and especially in the case of public vaccinators, the doctor does not see the result except by accident. Those who get small-pox go to the hospitals, or are treated by other medical men, or may have left the district, and the relation between the vaccination and the attack of small-pox can only be discovered by the accurate registration of all the cases and deaths, with the facts as to vaccination or revaccination. ”

“ I oppose the practice of vaccination because it is not known what vaccine virus is, except that it is a mixed contagion of disease. We hear much these days about “pure” virus and “pure calf lymph.” Nothing could be more absurd and meaningless than the flippant talk indulged in by vaccinators and the purveyors of vaccine virus about “pure calf lymph,” a hybrid product of diseased animal tissues. “Pure virus” translated into plain English is pure “animal poison.” The phrase “pure calf lymph” is applied to an brand of vaccine virus now in use is a misnomer for two reasons. ”

“ As a fresh vaccination, therefore, is the only thing that gives any sure protection, and this for a few months only, there is surely no use in vaccinating any children, on the vaccinators’ own showing, until they are actually menaced by the presence of smallpox infection or epidemic. ”

“ In the autumn of 1874, notwithstanding some special attention was given to the matter, the number of cases of small-pox increased so rapidly, and the number of unvaccinated persons was found to be so great, that it was evident some more effective means must be adopted to meet the danger of a great epidemic. It was at this time that a permanent corps of vaccinators was organized under the charge of Dr. James B. Taylor, "Inspector of Vaccination," and under the general management of the Board of Health. ”

“ When it is intended to be sent a distant place, or to be kept long, the vaccinators should be charged several times.
Matter must not be dried before the fire.
When suffered to dry on a lancet, it should not be kept above two or three days. ”

“ The circumstances attending this reintroduction of an original vaccinia, which I have recently detailed elsewhere, [5] strongly impressed me with the idea that the vaccine virus became "tempered" (so to speak) by passing through the human body, its original potency suffering diminution with the increase in the number of subjects through which it had been transmitted; while, at the same time, the proportion of subjects in whom the vaccination "took," which had been small with the original "vaccine," increased when it had (so to speak) become "humanized." ”

“ We developed a live vaccine, not on the basis of our own experiences and research, but we made use of the experiences of others. I should like to mention primarily the work of the French typhus research scientists, Blanc, Baltasar, and assistants Legrer and Lecolle. When vaccinating, a vaccine must be used which gives anti-infectious protection, and in general, in the case of virus diseases, successful vaccination is also achieved only with live virus. Let me mention the examples of smallpox, influenza, and yellow fever. ”

“ It is admitted in later reports that the disease can be conveyed to animals or man by ordinary skin inoculation or scarification provided some blood is drawn in the operation, which is, of course, a common occurrence in ordinary vaccination. This rather doubtful statement as to infection in man by ordinary vaccination I will therefore prove to be an evident error and will give, further on, the most convincing proof that foot and mouth disease—or what is in every way equivalent to and identical with it—is frequently conveyed to mankind by vaccination, with fatal effect! ”

“ From a careful analysis of the results of this inoculation, it is shown that the efficacy of the prophylactic depends upon the virulence of the bacillus culture from which the vaccine is prepared, and upon its dose and ability to produce a well-marked febrile reaction. It appears to be more effective in the prevention of deaths than of attacks.
The anti-typhoid vaccination is another example of inoculation to secure active immunity. It is needless, perhaps, to point out that all these vaccinations, except rabies, are prophylactic, and not curative. ”

“ In honor of Jenner, who was the first to discover the way of preparing a virus of a fixed strength safe to be used for the preventive treatment of men, Pasteur proposed that all such artificially bred, so to say, domesticated forms of microbes be called vaccines, while the word virus be reserved for a contagion growing in nature in a natural condition, or taken direct from an infected individual. The French distinguish between ‘vaccin,’ which is used as a generic term in Pasteur’s sense, and ‘vaccine,’ which name they reserve for smallpox vaccinia lymph. ”

“ The antagonism of vaccination to the so-called designs of Providence was loudly asserted. One Dr. Squirrel on this head maintained that “Providence never intended that the vaccine disease should affect the human race, else why had it not, before this time, visited the inhabitants of the globe? Notwithstanding this, the vaccine virus has been forced into the blood by the manufacturing hand of man, and supported not by science or reason, but by conjecture and folly only, with a pretence of its exterminating the smallpox from the face of the earth.” ”

“ As it is well known that a secondary vaccination runs its course more rapidly than a primary one, it is evident that if an exposed patient has been already vaccinated a secondary vaccination is more apt to exert a protective influence. Since vaccination with humanized virus is more speedy in its effect than when bovine lymph is used, it is advisable to employ the former when readily obtainable and to make several insertions in order to increase the probability of success. ”

“ The inoculation of man with the contents of such a vesicle produces a mild form of disease known as vaccinia, which protects the individual from smallpox. This protection is fully as adequate as that produced by an attack of smallpox, and we are warranted in saying that if thorough vaccination, or the inoculation with vaccinia, were carried out smallpox would disappear. There are great difficulties in the way of carrying out effective vaccination of the whole population, which are accentuated by the active opposition of people who are ignorant and wilfully remain so. ”

“ GREAT EPIDEMICS OF DEADLY DISEASE, IN ANIMALS AND MANKIND, CAUSED BY VACCINATION Now, not only is vaccination very dangerous to health and life in many individual cases and frequently causes more deaths every year than smallpox, particularly in little children, as already clearly proved, but another shocking fact is that vaccination has been proved to be the cause of several great epidemics of deadly disease among mankind and domestic animals, and has probably also been the cause of many other serious epidemics whose origin has not yet been proved. ”

“ The theory of the vaccine treatment of disease is that if you infuse into the blood the [Pg 416] products of the germs of certain diseases, the individual in whose blood the vaccine has been put, will wholly resist that particular disease, or if he acquires it, it will be in a mild and more modified form. If a family for a number of generations has had various members die of tuberculosis, the blood stream of the family will have become so impregnated with the toxins, or poisons, of the disease, that, in time, a certain immunity will have been established. ”

“ No instance of the transmission of foot and mouth disease to man through vaccine virus has been recorded, and it is considered doubtful, in view of the tests made, if it is possible to reproduce the disease in him by the cutaneous inoculation commonly used in the process of vaccination. ”

“ In the absence of a physician, vaccination may be properly done by any intelligent person when the circumstances demand it. Vaccination is usually performed upon the outside of the arm, a few inches below the shoulder, in the depression situated in that region. If done on the leg, the vaccination is apt to be much more troublesome and may confine the patient to bed. The arm should be thoroughly washed in soap and warm water, from shoulder to elbow, and then in alcohol diluted one-third with water. ”

“ The great revolution effected by vaccination can scarcely be appreciated in our days, and some testimonies from the past are continually needed. The Rev. Dr. Booker, of Dudley, which in his time contained fourteen thousand inhabitants, testified thus respecting vaccination and its striking effects: “I have, previous to the knowledge of the vaccine inoculation, frequently buried, day after day, several (and once as many as eight) victims of the smallpox. ”

“ The parents of the three unvaccinated children had a fourth child who had been successfully vaccinated at school, and for which she received a severe beating at the hands of her father. This child, although sleeping in the same room with those who were sick and dying of the disease, entirely escaped.
No more striking examples of protection afforded by vaccination could exist than that furnished by placing infants on the first day of their vaccination in a small-pox hospital, filled with patients in every stage of the disease. ”

“ As regards the effect of vaccination in reducing the prevalence of, and mortality from, small-pox, the following conclusions were arrived at, Dr Collins and Mr Picton alone dissenting: “ (1) That it diminishes the liability to be attacked by the disease. (2) That it modifies the character of the disease and renders it (a) less fatal, and (b) of a milder or less severe type. (3) That the protection it affords against attacks of the disease is greatest during the years immediately succeeding the operation of vaccination. ”

“ Five years of such extensive, systematic and thoroughly studied work could scarcely fail of results of some kind either for good or for evil. During that time 270,970 vaccinations were performed by the Vaccinating Corps alone, independent of the great number performed at the dispensaries, and by physicians in their private practice. It remains to examine these results as regards the protection which vaccination affords against small-pox, and as regards the transmission of disease, which has constituted the great ground of prejudice against the practice of vaccination. ”

“ The first vaccinations in the United States were performed by Doctor Waterhouse, Professor of Medicine in Harvard College, in 1800, upon four of his own children. The transmission of humanized virus through the system of the cow, and its subsequent employment in vaccination of human beings, was first practiced by Troja (1747-1827) , of Naples, shortly after the introduction of human vaccination; but in 1810 this was prohibited in Italy. Compulsory vaccination was first extensively introduced in Germany in 1807 ”

“ I next discuss in some detail what is undoubtedly the most complete and crucial test of the value or uselessness of vaccination to be found anywhere in the world. Since 1860 in the Army, and 1872 in the Navy, every man without exception, English or foreign, has been vaccinated on entering the service, though for long before that period practically the [89] whole force was vaccinated or revaccinated. Diagrams XI. and XII. exhibit the result of the statistics presented to the Commission, showing for the Navy the death-rate from disease and that from small-pox for the whole force ”

“ At this point we might again quote from one of the latest medical works and one of the leading doctors of to-day, viz., from Osler’s “Principles and Practice of Medicine,” eighth edition, 1918, page 330, where the point just argued is clearly recognized as to the effect of vaccination in exciting other diseases and is expressed in these distinct words:
“Influence of Vaccination Upon Other Diseases: A quiescent malady may be lighted into activity by vaccination. [Pg 142] This has happened with congenital syphilis, occasionally with tuberculosis.” ”

“ In other words, if the vaccinations are properly given, “never during a negative phase,” and as a result the patient’s tissues are stimulated to an increased production of the opsonins, phagocytosis is increased, the invading bacteria are disposed of, and the patient recovers from his infection. The proper handling of patients according to this method requires the greatest attention to details of technique for obtaining the opsonic index, preparing the vaccine, and the administration of the proper dose at the proper time. ”

“ If, therefore, vaccination confers any protection or immunity from smallpox, even for a short or limited time, it is, of course, proper for doctors, nurses and attendants to make use of this protection as far and as frequent as they may wish or consider necessary. It is, of course, also proper for any person, whether exposed or not exposed to smallpox, to voluntarily resort to vaccination whenever he may see fit to do so, or as his doctor may advise, as this is the unalienable right of Medical Freedom for which we contend and to which all citizens are entitled. ”