The History Of The United Kingdom's Vaccine Act

The History Of Mandatory Vaccines

I am following The Money Trail

Back when vaccines programs were being mandated who profited from government mandated vaccine programs? I've had the hardest time tracking that little bit of data down. I finally found some books that go into the questions I have about vaccine venders and government divisions that made a living selling vaccines. I found a bunch of fragmented history about Vaccine Acts and the Poor Laws of the United Kingdom. I will be going into detail about all of this in my later articles.

Back in the late 1790s Edward Jenner took a basket full of folklore regarding cures and prevention and presented a cure for smallpox. He took pus from infected cows, horses and people and mixed the pus up with all sorts of other ingredients . Using a sharpened tool dipped in the mixture punctures the patients skin. Jenner was called a hero and gained fame and fortune through the medical societies of England and granted a large sum of money to continue his vaccine program even though most people people became very ill and many died after the treatment immediately with infection or years later after repeated procedures. Because of many horrific deaths and illness in the 1870s and and 1880s people joined forces and rebelled against mandatory vaccinations forcing the government to pass laws allowing parents to opt out of the practice. Thus was born the anti vaccination moment, which continues to this day.

How Mandatory Vaccine Policy Started

Vaccinations had been practiced for over 40 years before legislation was passed in between 1840 to 1853 called the Vaccination acts. Parliament tried several times to pass a universal vaccine act giving Edward Jenner large grant for his discovery, In 1809, parliament approved an institution that would distribute free vaccines. The vaccines weren’t free. Many saw a way to profit from government mandated mandatory medicines like vaccines and this will be the focus for my next papers. I found a lot of books that go into this fragmented history. I actually had to go to the library to find the information because it is not easy to find on line. I want to know who funded and profited from mandatory vaccines in its infancy. Many doctors and learned people spoke up against vaccines stating they harmed more then they helped. I will also focus on these voices in my next articles. I want to know why government ignored concerned citizens that were also well versed in medical knowledge of their day. Especially since Edward Jenner's concoctions were so disgusting and caused horrible illnesses and death.

Fragmented Or Hidden History?

English parliament passed their first vaccine act in 1840 but it is very difficult to find any details regarding the 1840s vaccine act when reading this history of public health. This time is noted as the first move for the mandatory vaccines. The act was effective even through it had a rough start and became one of the first public vaccination services which continued unchanged until the end of the century for both England and Wales. There were boards of guardians who organized stations equipped with public vaccinators in every province in the country. How was this funded and who profited? I will be digging into my books to see if I can find out. I want to know who the vaccine venders were and how the vaccines were manufactured and shipped. The largest part of the population that was vaccinated were infants.

Forced Vaccination

True state mandated medicine has been said to start in 1853 with the 1853 Vaccination act in England and Wales. Which many articles state this was the single most important act in the history of state mandated medicine. Many articles I read stress this act was significant because the general population was educated through the state regarding public health. At this time smallpox was on the decline and vaccines were promoted as the reason why. However when I looked through the data I noted many at least 2 other reason why smallpox was on the decline. One, public sanitation was introduced and smallpox had burned itself out.

Follow The Money Trail

Prior to 1854 vaccinations acts were funded through private member’s bills and were aimed at vaccinating infants and children. What evolved from these acts developed into a government run public vaccination bills drawn up by government departments and or by practitioners with close ties to Whitehall. Someone profited from these mandates and I want to follow the money trail. With the eye on profits the goals of legislation also changed, enforcing an imposing strict codes of conduct by medical experts with the central government. The divisions started to grow in power with more and more people being forced to take vaccinations through the 1850s and 1860s. More and more experts jumped on the mandated government vaccination program.

State medicine and public health policy of Britain was developed and built by many people. Jon Simon seems to be the most prominent name I have found. He also promoted public sanitation systems. He had a hard fight trying to clean up the slums that bred diseases that were spread throughout Europe during the wars. No one wanted to spend public money on the poor either through the public sanitation practices or through vaccines. The fight between centralized government and local governments. The Medical Office of the Privy Council, 1860 allocated power to the Medical Office, which also worked with the Poor Law Board. More on the Poor Law with an article on its own regarding how the poor were treated and forced to take medication or have their government granted food and lodging removed.

Jon Simmon’s effort to establish and centralized public vaccination division within the government was established. The Poor Law Board was authorized to pass on regulations to local authorities. Inspectors were given power through the Medical Office, but they were ignored and carried little power with the Board of Guardians and vaccinators. The public agains started protesting regarding their individual rights and Simion’s vaccination policy was under attack again. The antivaccination movement objected to parents being prosecuted for refusing to vaccinate their infants. Remember vaccinations were made from pus, grease, and all sorts of nasty ingredients. Adults and children regularly sickened and died from multiple vaccinations.

The policies and vaccination system developed in England and Wales was used for the government public vaccination program in Ireland through the Poor Law and the 1840 Vaccination act in 1863. During the beginning of the Vaccination act all vaccines were free.

The Poor Law

Free vaccines didn’t work in Ireland the way they did in England and Wales. From what I’ve read the poor were treated differently in Ireland. Kind of a side note, the Irish were treated horrible by the elites. Millions were shipped off as slaves in the 1600s around the world to work on the plantations. There is a lot of history regarding the horrible treatment of the Irish by the English and the Irish elites. Between 1851 and 1879, 4 vaccine acts were passed.

Scotland’s state run vaccination policy was very different from the rest of the United Kingdom. This was passed in 1863 and vaccines were mandatory. This law remained the same through the century. The law was handled differently when dealing with the poor people and those who could afford to pay for their vaccination. The poor law authorities conducted most of the vaccinations in Scotland.

Mandated centralized state run vaccine programs were established throughout the United Kingdom by 1864. The laws were complicated and enforced differently depending on the state. All infants and the poor were forced to take vaccines. All vaccines were free and protocols became established. When you look at the past you will understand what is happening today.

The Irish Slave Trade from 1600 to 1780s, a little bit of history our public schools omitted from our history lessons.England continued to ship tens of thousands of Irish slaves for more than a century. Records state that, after the 1798 Irish Rebellion, thousands of Irish slaves were sold to both America and Australia. There were horrible abuses of both African and Irish captives. One British ship even dumped 1,302 slaves into the Atlantic Ocean so that the crew would have plenty of food to eat.

Health And Hygiene In The 19th Century

The Politics Of Vaccination ~ A Global History

some_text A link to My Blog

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
19 Comments