Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Vaccination in Early Nineteenth-Century England and Wales
- 2 The Creation of a Public Vaccination Service
- 3 Compulsory Vaccination and Divisions among Practitioners
- 4 Central Control over Public Vaccination
- 5 The Failure of Central Supervision
- 6 Challenges to Vaccination Policy
- 7 Ireland: The Failure of Poor Law Vaccination 1840–50
- 8 Failure and Success: Irish Public Vaccination 1850–80
- 9 Vaccination in Scotland: Victory for Practitioners
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Vaccination in Early Nineteenth-Century England and Wales
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Vaccination in Early Nineteenth-Century England and Wales
- 2 The Creation of a Public Vaccination Service
- 3 Compulsory Vaccination and Divisions among Practitioners
- 4 Central Control over Public Vaccination
- 5 The Failure of Central Supervision
- 6 Challenges to Vaccination Policy
- 7 Ireland: The Failure of Poor Law Vaccination 1840–50
- 8 Failure and Success: Irish Public Vaccination 1850–80
- 9 Vaccination in Scotland: Victory for Practitioners
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Histories of public vaccination in Britain usually begin with the passing of the 1840 and 1853 Vaccination Acts. However, vaccination had been in use for over forty years before it became the subject of legislation and was popular, if not universally practiced. Parliament repeatedly expressed its approval of the new procedure. In 1803 and 1808, MPs awarded grants to Edward Jenner for his discovery of vaccination. In 1809, parliament approved the creation of an institute to provide free vaccination and to distribute vaccines. Though willing to speak in favor of vaccination, MPs repeatedly refused to sanction any action against smallpox that was not voluntary and permissive. MPs rejected bills in 1808, 1813, and 1814, which would have regulated inoculation and provided free vaccination. Any sort of direct intervention in the lives of citizens or in the work of medical practitioners, however well-intentioned, lay beyond the sphere of appropriate government action. Although the NVE survived until the late nineteenth century, the debates in parliament represent a dead end in terms of vaccination policy as the issues discussed were rarely raised in later debates. Nevertheless, they are worthy of study as the means by which MPs defined and redefined the responsibility of the state to promote the health of the public.
Introduction of Vaccination
In eighteenth-century Britain, smallpox was a terrifying scourge. The disease attacked mainly children and infants. Victims developed a high fever before the characteristic spots appeared, filled with fluid, and suppurated. In severe cases, the skin of the face and hands was completely covered by pocks.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Politics of VaccinationPractice and Policy in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, 1800–1874, pp. 11 - 19Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2008