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Small Pox in the Revolution
Small Pox in the Revolutionary War played a big part in the US being unable to beat the British out of Canada. Many soldiers in the US had never been exposed to the disease, and were suffering heavy losses. This is possibly due to a British commander sending infected civilians to the continental encampments. -
Creation of Physician College
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia was founded in order to research and eventually combat strong diseases like Smallpox. -
Cowpox Beats Smallpox
Edward Jenner discovered that if a human is infected with cowpox (an uncommon disease that farmers usually get) then a person is also somewhat protected from smallpox after testing it on an eight year old boy. -
The First signs of Vaccinations
Benjamin Waterhouse wrote to Thomas Jefferson about how successful vaccinating the populous is for protecting against diseases, and Jefferson would later become a stalwart advocate for vaccination even in office. Later Massachusetts became the first state to encourage vaccination after Waterhouse successfully vaccinated 19 volunteers, preventing smallpox in them. -
The US Vaccine Agency Established
President James Madison signed off on the creation of the US Vaccine Agency and it required the US post office to carry smallpox vaccines for free around the country if mail contained it. -
Mandatory Vaccinations
Many States in the US made it mandatory for students to be vaccinated before entering a school. This would be questioned about the legality of the matter for years. -
Supreme Court gets involved
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1905, that mandatory vaccines for diseases like smallpox was indeed constitutional and required for the sake of public health during the Jacobson V. Massachusetts case. -
Polio Outbreak
Polio began infecting most of the United States, and one such victim was the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt gave a speech pleading for families to find a way to help fight against Polio, and even compared it to the US' adversaries in World War 2 -
Polio Vaccine
In 1954, when another Polio outbreak took place, more effort was made to create a vaccine for polio. A vaccine was created and tested with results, in 1995, showing that it was 80-90% effective against polio. The US government then immediately licensed the vaccine on the same day.