THE FACTS AGAINST
COMPULSORY VACCINATION
By H. B. Anderson
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CITIZENS MEDICAL REFERENCE BUREAU
226 West 47th Street New York |
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PRICE $1.00
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THE FACTS AGAINST
COMPULSORY VACCINATION By H. B. ANDERSON
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PUBLISHED BY
CITIZENS MEDICAL REFERENCE BUREAU
226 W. 47th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. |
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Copyright 1929
BY
H. B. Anderson
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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PREFACE
This book has been prepared especially for the busy
man or woman to read. The entire story is contained in the headlines while
the proof is given in light face type. It is not necessary, therefore, to read the light face
type except where questions arise regarding the accuracy of any assertion contained in the headlines, in which case the facts are readily available. This book points out the fallacy of community vacci-
nation, involving compulsory measures, but does not at- tempt to advise anyone whether he should or should not be vaccinated for his own protection. The data contained herein is compiled entirely from
board of health bulletins, medical journals and other authoritative publications. It represents findings and concessions of the most out-
standing advocates of vaccination. Hence, the data is of a most conservative character which understates, rather than overstates, the actual facts. Nevertheless, the findings here given, revealing the im-
position and enormity of the outrage of the vaccination requirement, are of a most startling character. No institutions have wider facilities for acquainting
themselves with the facts referred to in this book than federal, state and local boards of health. Why then, do they continue the policy of showing frankness in discuss- ing vaccination in technical publications and pursue the policy of assuring the public in the press, on the radio and on the public platform that vaccination is harmless and that it constitutes a sure protection against small- pox? |
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Health boards know the truth of the facts contained
herein. They also know the strength of the political medical machine which is ever striving to prevent in- formation of this kind from reaching the public. But what they apparently fail to take into consideration is that information may be suppressed for a time, but eventually avenues are opened up for bringing the facts to the public. We appeal to all friends of free speech, to all friends
of a free press, and to all friends of medical liberty to assist in acquainting the public with the facts contained in this publication. Compulsory vaccination as used in this book has refer-
ence to making vaccination a requirement by denying education, food, or employment to persons not vaccinated. The exercise of force to compel vaccination would subject the physician or health officer to possible damages for assault upon the body. (See Journal American Medical Association, December 6, 1924, p. 1865). Hence it was not considered necessary to discuss forcible inoculation. Grateful appreciation is extended by the author to
Reverend William Whitehead of Bryn Athyn, Pennsyl- vania for his invaluable assistance in compiling and assembling the data contained in this publication. The Reverend Whitehead collaborated with the writer
in the early stages of this treatise and the book would have been published under joint authorship except for Mr. Whitehead's absence abroad which necessitated its completion by the writer. Reverend William Whitehead is Professor of History
and Head of the History Department, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. |
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Note:—All bold face type used in the quotations in
this publication are ours. |
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IV
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CONTENTS
PREFACE
PART I. THE VACCINATION REQUIREMENT IS
STRENUOUSLY OPPOSED BY AN ENLIGHTENED PUBLIC SENTIMENT WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE MEDICAL PROFESSION: IT IS UN-AMERICAN AND IS SPONSORED BY CLASS INTERESTS WHICH WOULD PROFIT FINANCIALLY BY THE RETEN- TION OF THIS LEGISLATION. In Very Few States Is Vaccination Compulsory By
Law and Of the States Which Have Had Such a Requirement One After Another Have Enacted Legislation to Make This Form of Treatment Op- tional. England Has Repudiated Compulsory Vaccination
By the Acts of 1898 and 1907 Providing for a Con- science Clause. Holland Has Suspended Its Vaccination Require-
ment Because of Cases of Serious Illness Following Vaccination. Australia Has Repudiated Compulsory Vaccina-
tion. The Vaccination Law In Germany Is Breaking
Down. Opposition to Compulsory Vaccination Is So Over-
whelming That an Increasing Number of Medical, Public Health and School Authorities Are Finding Fault With the Vaccination Requirement. The London, Lancet, England's Leading Medical
Journal, Raises the Question of the Desirability of Abandoning Universal Vaccination As a Public Health Measure. v
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Parental Right to Determine Form of Treatment
For Children Is Fundamentally Sound. Compulsory Vaccination Is un-American. Typical Instances of Attempts By Advocates of
Compulsory Vaccination to Withhold Education, Employment or Food From Persons As a Means of Forcing Them to Be Vaccinated. Physicians Do Not Want Compulsion For Them-
selves. Organized Regular or Allopathic Physicians and
Vaccine Companies Have a Commercial Interest In Making It Appear That Compulsory Vaccina- tion Is Necessary. Two Health Boards Are Officially Engaged In the
Business of Manufacturing, Creating a Demand For and Selling Vaccines and Serums. Medical Politics Stands In the Way of An Im-
partial Consideration of Vaccination Laws. Facts Showing That Organized Medicine Has the
Machinery For Popularizing Vaccination Regard- less of Its Merits or Demerits. Extortion By Terrorism. PART II. THERE IS NO RELATION BETWEEN
THE VACCINATION REQUIREMENT AND THE PRESENCE OR ABSENCE OF SMALLPOX. The United States Public Health Service Concedes
That Unvaccinated Persons May Be Exposed to Smallpox Without Contracting It and That Small- pox of a Fatal Character May Occur In Persons With a Fairly Good Vaccination History. Organized Physicians Were Just As Sure That the
Inoculation of People With Smallpox Was a Good Thing As They Now Are That Vaccination Is Necessary But Smallpox Inoculation Resulted In vi
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Actually Spreading the Disease and Was Made a
Penal Offence In England In 1840. Jenner, the So-called Discoverer of Vaccination,
Was Just As Sure That a Single Vaccination Would Protect For Life As Organized Medicine Today Is That Vaccination Affords Temporary Protection Against Smallpox. Smallpox Has Gone the Way of Cholera and Other
Filth Diseases Before the Onward March of Sani- tation and Improved Living Conditions. Smallpox Is Only One of Several Diseases Which
Have Shown a Substantial Reduction. There Has Been No Increase In Smallpox Follow-
ing the Repeal of the Vaccination Requirement in Maine and a Number of Other States. In England Smallpox Mortality Has Greatly De-
clined Following Virtual Repeal Of Vaccination Requirement By Passage of Acts of 1898 and 1907 Providing For a "Conscience Clause" As Shown By the Following Tables. No Other Country Has Given Vaccination So Good a Tryout As England. Here Are the Facts. Smallpox Record of United States Where Vacci-
nation Is Optional For Most Part Compares Favorably With That of Italy, Japan and the Philippines, Each of Which Make Vaccination and Revaccination Compulsory. Unvaccinated Australia Free From Smallpox.
The Case Reports of Alleged Smallpox In the
United States And England, About Which Advo- cates Of Compulsion Are Seeking to Create So Much Alarm, Are the Result of a Practice In These Countries Of Reporting a Variety of Mild Complaints As Actual Cases Of Smallpox Whereas In Other Countries They Would Be Designated As vii
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"Alastrim," "Cuban Itch," "Chickenpox" or Under
Some Other Name. Fallacy of Statistics Comparing Smallpox Cases
Among the Vaccinated And Unvaccinated. The Misuse of Statistics. How Statistics May Be Interpreted to Mean Any-
thing the Advocates of Vaccines Want Them to Mean. The Menace of Wholesale Serumization.
Serum Craze Has Now Reached the Stage Where Persons Are Being Inoculated With Preparations Ranging From Extracts Of Newspapers to Dan- druff, Blonde and Brunette Hair and House Dust. PART III. THE VACCINATION REQUIREMENT,
INVOLVING AS IT DOES, WHOLESALE INOCULA- TION OF THE POPULATION OR AN IMPORTANT PART THEREOF, CONSTITUTES A MORE SERIOUS MENACE TO PUBLIC HEALTH THAN SMALLPOX. More Than 10,000 Soldiers Were Made Sick By
Vaccination. Articles In Medical Journals Refer to Lockjaw
(or Tetanus) Following Vaccination As Always to Be Feared and An Ever-Present Possibility. Bibliography Of Articles In Medical and Public Health Journals Referring to Cases Of Lockjaw (or Tetanus) Following Vaccination. Specific Cases Of Fatalities Following Vaccina-
tion. The Following News Items Are Typical Of the Clippings Received Each Year Prior to the Opening Of the Schools. Health Boards In the United States Are Not Required to Make Public the Actual Number of Such Cases Which Occur. Hence, While One News Item May Over-Empha- size the Part Played By Vaccination the Majority of Cases Would Not Be Reported At All. viii
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Says Deaths From Vaccination Outnumber Those
From Smallpox. Disclosures of Serious Illness and Fatalities Re-
sulting From Vaccination Contained in the Reports of Two Official Investigations Just Issued. New and Startling Dangers.—Recent Reports Of
Cases of Encephalitis Following Vaccination. Medical Authorities Concede That Vaccination
May Light Up Or Transmit Various Diseases. Epidemics Of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Of 1902 and 1908 Among Cattle Traced By United States Department Of Agriculture to Vaccine Virus. How Vaccine Virus Is Prepared.—Method Used In England; Method Recommended by Dr. Park. No Physician Or Health Officer Can Be Absolutely Certain That Any Batch Of Vaccine Virus Is Free From Impurities. ix
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This book is dedicated to the late
Mr. John Pitcairn of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania who was one of the most outstanding opponents of compulsory- vaccination in the United States. |
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"Will a nonimmunized person contract smallpox
if exposed to the disease? By no means uniformly. Exposure to smallpox, especially to the milder forms, without contracting the disease frequently occurs and is no definite evidence of immunity. The number of cases of smallpox among the unpro- tected persons in contact with patients suffering from the disease is very much less than 100 per cent. . . . "The purpuric, uniformly fatal, form of smallpox
is the most difficult to prevent by vaccination, and cases of this form, without a true smallpox erup- tion, may occur in persons with a fairly good vacci- nation history ..." Extracts from article by Sur- geon J. P. Leake, published in "Public Health Reports," the weekly bulletin of the United States Public Health Service, January 28, 1927. |
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PART I
The Vaccination Requirement Is Strenuously Op-
posed by an Enlightened Public Sentiment Within and Without the Medical Profession: It is un- American and is Sponsored by Class Interests Which Would Profit Financially by the Retention of this Legislation. 1
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IN VERY FEW STATES IS VACCINATION
COMPULSORY BY LAW AND OF THE STATES WHICH HAVE HAD SUCH A REQUIREMENT ONE AFTER ANOTHER HAVE ENACTED LEGISLATION TO MAKE THIS FORM OF TREATMENT OPTIONAL. |
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(Note:—Only nine states have laws making this form of
treatment a requirement for admission to the public schools: the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York (in cities of the first and second classes only), Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Vaccination of children during infancy is required by law in Kentucky and Maryland. It is optional with local authorities whether or not they shall require vac- cination for admission to the public schools in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon. In the absence of legislation specifically authorizing State or local authorities to make vaccination a requirement for ad- mission to the public schools, the state or local boards of health in Arkansas, Kentucky, and a few other states have attempted to require vaccination by means of health board regulations. This action has been upheld by the courts in some states but in most cases the exclusion of unvaccinated children from the public schools, except during times of epi- demic, without specific authority from the legislature, has been held illegal. H. B. A.) 2
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Extract from Public Health Bulletin No. 52 by J. W.
Kerr, issued by the United States Public Health Service,
January 1912.
"The provisions relative to vaccination in the United
States are many and varied. In very few States is this prophylactic measure at all compulsory by law. In some it can be made a provision of state-wide application
at the discretion of the State board of health. In others, the majority, its adoption is optional with the local health authorities. Still in others, rules of the State board of health require its practice, and in several, its obligatory enforcement is absolutely forbidden. "As to the practical enforcement of the existing provi-
sions, no opinion can be expressed. Health authorities of various States admit that, owing to general apathy or lack of funds, vaccination is seldom systematically en- forced, except perhaps in the case of school children." Compulsory Vaccination Prohibited in Four States.
From Supplement No. 60 to the Public Health Reports
entitled, "Smallpox Vaccination Laws, Regulations, and
Court Decisions," issued by the United States Public
Health Service, 1927.
"Compulsory vaccination prohibited.—In four States,
Arizona, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Utah, there are statutory provisions against compulsory vaccination. "The Arizona law provides that no minor child shall be
subjected to compulsory vaccination without the consent of the child's parent or guardian. This law, however, has a proviso prohibiting the school attendance in a school district of unvaccinated children when a smallpox epidemic prevails in such district. "In Minnesota the statute reads, 'no rule of the State
board [of health] or of any public board or officer shall at any time compel the vaccination of a child, or shall exclude, except during epidemics of smallpox and when approved by the local board of education, a child from 3
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the public schools for the reason that such child has not
been vaccinated.' "The North Dakota law forbids making any form of
vaccination or inoculation a condition precedent for the admission of any person to any public or private school or college, or for the exercise of any right, the perform- ance of any duty, or the enjoyment of any privilege, by any person. "By the Utah" law it is made unlawful for any board of
health, board of education, or any other public board to compel the vaccination of any person, or to make vacci- nation a condition precedent to school attendance. "Compelling vaccination by physical force.—A pro-
vision of the South Dakota statutes makes it unlawful for any board, physician, or person to compel another by the use of physical force to submit to vaccination." Arizona Repealed Law by Referendum Vote.
Prior to the year 1918 Arizona had the following com-
pulsory vaccination law: "Sec. 28. Each parent or guardian having the care,
custody or control of any minor or other person shall cause such minor or other person to be vaccinated. "Sec. 35. * * * Any person who fails to comply with
or violates any of the provisions of this act * * * shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding thirty days, or by both.—(Acts of 1903, ch. 65)." In 1918 the following law was passed by referendum
vote: "Section 1. Children, compulsory vaccination prohib-
ited; school attendance during smallpox epidemic.—No minor child shall be subjected to compulsory vaccination without the consent of the parent or guardian having the care, custody, or control of such minor: Provided, how- ever, That no minor child shall be permitted to attend 4
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any public school in any school district in the State of
Arizona during the period in which a smallpox epidemic may be prevalent in said school district unless said minor child shall have first been vaccinated. "Sec. 2. Repeal.—That paragraph 4396, chapter 1,
title 41, of the Revised Statutes of Arizona, 1913, civil code, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.— (Initiative measure approved by voters November 5, 1918; effective December 5, 1918)." North Dakota Abolished Law in 1919.
Prior to the year 1919 North Dakota had the following
law for the control of smallpox: "279. Each parent or guardian having the care, cus-
tody or control of any minor or other person shall cause such minor or other person to be vaccinated. "9038. Every person who wilfully violates any provi-
sion of the health laws * * * is punishable by imprison- ment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or both.—(Revised Codes, 1905)." The following law abolishing compulsory vaccination
in North Dakota was passed by the North Dakota Legis- lature and approved February 14, 1919: "Sec. 425al. Vaccination not to be made a condition
precedent..—No form of vaccination or inoculation shall hereafter be made a condition precedent, in this State, for the admission to any public or private school or col- lege, of any person, or for the exercise of any right, the performance of any duty, or the enjoyment of any privi- lege by any person. "425a2. Repeal..—Section 425 of the Compiled Laws of
North Dakota is hereby repealed, as well as are all acts
and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this
act—(1913-1925 Supplement to 1913 Compiled Laws)."
California Repealed Law in 1921.
Two acts were passed by the California legislature be-
fore the vaccination law in California was completely 5
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abolished. In 1911 the requirement that children be vac-
cinated for admission to the public schools was modified in such a manner as to exempt children who presented a signed statement from the parent requesting that the child be permitted to attend school without vaccination. In 1921 another act was passed which repealed the vac-
cination requirement altogether. It provides as follows: "Section 1. Smallpox, control; vaccination rules, adop-
tion.—The control of smallpox shall be under the direc- tion of the State board of health, and no rule or regula- tion on the subject of vaccination shall be adopted by school or local health authorities. (Section 2 repeals ch. 134, acts of 1911.) —(Acts of 1921, ch. 370)." Maine Abolished Law in 1921.
The State of Maine had, until the year 1921, a law
authorizing superintending school committees to require vaccination. for admission to the public schools. It pro- vided as follows: "Section 35. Superintending school committees shall—
VII. Exclude, if they deem it expedient, any person not vaccinated, although otherwise entitled to admission.— (Rev. Stats. 1903, ch. 15)." In 1921 this law was amended so as to make vaccina-
tion optional with parents, regardless of the wishes of the superintending school committees. The law as amended reads as follows: "Sec. 38 (as amended by ch. 41, acts of 1921). Ex-
clusion of unvaccinated persons from school.—Superin- tending school committees shall perform the following duties: V. Exclude, if they deem it expedient, any person not
vaccinated, although otherwise entitled to admission, un- less a parent or guardian of such person shall present a signed statement that such parent or guardian is op- posed to vaccination, in which event such person may only be excluded in the event of an epidemic of smallpox. — (Revised Statutes, 1916, ch. 16)." 6
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Massachusetts Abolished Compulsory Vaccination of
Infants in 1908.
Extract from a Communication by Mr. Henry D. Nunn
in the Boston, (Mass.) Post, January 22, 1924. "The first compulsory vaccination law was passed by
Massachusetts in 1855. It required that every infant must be vaccinated before reaching the age of two years; that no child should be admitted to any public school un- less vaccinated; that all inmates of public institutions must be vaccinated; that the employees of all manufac- turing corporations must be vaccinated as a prerequisite to employment and to cap the climax, everyone must be vaccinated every five years. What was the result? In the 20 years following the enactment of this law there were 4221 deaths from smallpox in Massachusetts. The protection afforded by this law did not highly recom- mend itself to the people, and in time it was pretty much ignored, so that finally in 1908 the infant vaccination requirement was repealed without protest by anybody and without any bad results." CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL IN 1926 ADOPTED AN
ORDINANCE PROHIBITING COMPULSORY VACCI- NATION. Copy of ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council
January 13, 1926. "The Board of Health shall pass no rule or regulation
which shall compel any person to submit to vaccination, or injection of any virus, or medication, against his will or without his consent, or, in the case of a minor or other person under disability, the consent of his or her parent, guardian, or conservator, and nothing in this ordinance contained, or in any other ordinance heretofore passed and in force in this city, shall be construed to authorize or empower any person or officer to so vaccinate, inject, or medicate, without such consent, or to authorize or em- power the said board of health to adopt any rule or regu- 7
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lation requiring or authorizing any such vaccination, in-
jection or medication." A measure was also passed by referendum vote of the
people in Colorado Springs several years ago making vac- cination optional in that city. |
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ENGLAND HAS REPUDIATED COMPULSORY
VACCINATION BY THE ACTS OF 1898 AND 1907 PROVIDING FOR A CONSCIENCE CLAUSE. |
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This Action Came As a Result of the Findings of The
Royal Commission on Vaccination in 1898 Which Con- ducted the Most Exhaustive Investigation That Has Ever Been Made on This Subject. Extracts from book by C. Killick Milliard, M.D., entitled,
"The Vaccination Question In the Light of Modern Experience," 1914, directing attention to the repudiation of compulsory vaccination in England and the findings of the Royal Commission on Vaccination in favor of a modification of the vaccination law.
p. 1. "The Vaccination Question undoubtedly consti- tutes one of the most remarkable controversies of the age. In many ways it is unique. Beginning in the early days of last century when vaccination was first introduced, it only became a popular question when vaccination was made compulsory in 1853. It attained its most acute phase after the Vaccination Act of 1872, which, passed with the object of securing the more efficient enforce- ment of the Vaccination Laws by the appointment of Vaccination Officers, may be regarded as representing the high-water mark of compulsion. Since the Vaccination Act of 1898 with the note-worthy Conscience Clause, and still more since the Act of 1907 permitting the father to make a statutory declaration before a Justice of the Peace in place of having to go into Court, real compul- sion has been very largely abolished. * * * 8
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p. 27. "The Royal Commission on Vaccination
certainly represents by far the most exhaustive inquiry ever held in connection with the subject of vaccination and constitutes a landmark in the history of our subject.
It was, indeed, one of the most remarkable inquiries ever held in connection with any subject. Appointed in the year 1889, the Final Report was not published until 1898, seven years later. This delay is not surprising, consider- ing the enormous volume of evidence recorded. The Com- missioners held 136 meetings, and examined 187 wit- nesses. In addition, they caused important investigations to be made for their assistance. The examination of cer- tain individual witnesses occupied several whole days. The total number of questions put and answered was over 18,000. Some idea of the mere bulk of the reports issued is obtained from the fact that the five principal reports, consisting of closely printed matter, together with the eight bulky appendices, weigh altogether over 14 lb. avoirdupois! The Commissioners, under the able chair- manship of Lord Herschell, certainly did their work with commendable thoroughness, and their reports constitute a veritable storehouse of facts relating to vaccination; but, unfortunately, much valuable evidence is virtually buried in this great mass of material. * * * p. 38. "Reference 5. The Question of Compulsion.—
As regards the important question of compulsion, the Commissioners recommended a modified and much less stringent form of compulsion by recognizing and exempting the 'Conscientious Objector' on certain con- ditions. Two of those who signed the Majority Report, however, dissented from this concession; but, on the other hand, two other Commissioners joined the Minority Com- missioners in objecting to the retention of the principle of compulsion in any form. There were thus two in favor of unrelaxed compulsion; seven in favor of a greatly modified and reduced form of compulsion; and four in favor of compulsion being abandoned altogether. 9
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It would only have required the transfer of three votes,
therefore, to have secured a majority in favor of the en- tire abolition of compulsion." * * * |
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HOLLAND HAS SUSPENDED ITS VACCI-
NATION REQUIREMENT BECAUSE OF CASES OF SERIOUS ILLNESS FOLLOWING VACCI- NATION. |
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Extracts from item entitled, "Vaccination In Holland,"
translated from the Dutch official document suspending vaccination for one year, and published in the "Vacci- nation Inquirer" April 2nd, 1928. "Vaccination against smallpox is not compulsory in
Holland. By the Infectious Diseases Act, however, it has been laid down as a rule that teachers and pupils are not allowed to enter a school unless they have been vaccinated against smallpox, in a prescribed manner and with lymph prepared in laboratories approved of by the State. * * * "In 1923 and following years, cases of encephalitis
after vaccination have occurred. As in most cases this encephalitis has shown itself 10 to 13 days after vacci- nation, one has been led to suppose that there must be some connection between vaccination and the divergence of the central nerve system as stated from the diagnosis. "One could therefore not maintain any longer that
vaccination against smallpox has to be considered as entirely harmless, although the danger may be said to be very slight. "Comparing the possible harm caused by vaccination,
the risk of smallpox cases is in this country considered greater, if the indirect compulsion to be vaccinated should be entirely abolished. "The Government, with a view to the present danger
of causing encephalitis after vaccination, for which there are no decisive remedies yet, have thought it ex- pedient to suspend the indirect compulsion for one year. 10
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