It is well known that the anti-vaccination movement is as old as the history of vaccines itself.
Don’t believe me?
Soon after Edward Jenner had developed his vaccine, in addition to simply convincing people that he had come up with a method of preventing small pox that was better than inoculation, he had to overcome those who were dead set against the idea of vaccination.
“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 created to their fame, with their names inscribed upon it, in indelible characters, to be held in grateful remembrance through all future generations?
And are not these names Moseley, Rowley, Birch, Squirrel, Lipscomb?”
The Vaccination Monster
Among them was John Birch.
Arthur Allen, in his book, Vaccine, calls John Birch one of “Jenner’s earliest foes.”
Who Was John Birch?
John Birch worked among the medical households of King George III’s children.
Specifically, he was the “Surgeon extraordinary to the Prince of Wales” at Spring-gardens. This is in contrast to the “Physicians in ordinary” that were on the regular staff of the British Royal Household and were in regular attendance.
And he believed that he had such “serious reasons” to object to Jenner’s smallpox vaccine that he wrote a report about it in 1804, which secured his place in anti-vaccine history.
Why was he against Jenner’s small pox vaccine?
His main argument was that “Inoculation, so perfectly understood, and so successfully managed as it was, ought not be abandoned for a mere Experiment…”
He left out the part that he made a lot of money inoculating patients against small pox. He also treated small pox patients – with electric current.
Not surprisingly, Birch also used many of the same arguments that we hear today:
- vaccines are dangerous (they can have risks, but are very safe)
- vaccines cause a host of vaccine-induced diseases (they don’t)
- vaccines sometimes don’t work (yes, they don’t work 100% of the time, but they do work very well)
He also leaves out the part about small pox inoculation being a lot riskier than vaccination, although either was certainly better than being at risk for a natural small pox infection. Actually, he doesn’t leave that out. Birch goes out of his way to claim that inoculation is a safer practice!
Why should folks believe him?
Because he says that he was right to stick with a treatment that others had already given up on – “here I was unwilling to give up Experience for Experiment, wanting nothing more safe or certain than Mercury…”
“In all investments, and in all enquiries, Trust must ultimately prevail.”
John Birch 1804
Fortunately, the truth prevailed.
Russia became the first country to ban inoculation or variolation, transitioning in favor of vaccination with Jenner’s small pox vaccine, in 1805. This is around the same time as Birch published his anti-vaccine pamphlet. Other countries followed their lead.
Birch was wrong about mercury and he was wrong about the small pox vaccine.
The John Birch Society
Although some of the member of the John Birch Society are associated with some anti-vaccine ideas and conspiracy theories, they have nothing to do with Jenner’s John Birch.
The John Birch Society was founded by Robert Welch and named after John Morrison Birch, a missionary who is said to have been the first victim of the Cold War.
What to Know About John Birch
John Birch was one of the first anti-vaccinationists and fought against Edward Jenner’s new small pox vaccine.
More About John Birch
- Anti-vaccinationists past and present
- The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons: Ideology
- No alternative medicine ever disappears when shown to be ineffective: The case of laetrile
- Edward Jenner and the Smallpox Vaccine
- Vaccination vs Variolation
- From Variolation to Cowpox Vaccination: The First Steps Towards Eradicating Smallpox
- Lady Montagu and the Introduction of Smallpox Inoculation to England
- From variolation to vaccination
- Death, The Vaccinator
Last Updated on April 6, 2024