As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, 海角社区app presents 鈥�250 Years of America,” a multipart series examining the innovations, breakthroughs and pivotal moments that have shaped the nation since 1776.
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If you think vaccine mandates started in 2020 with COVID-19, you would be wrong.
More than two centuries before the coronavirus pandemic, Operation Warp Speed and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army made a bold move. Not on the battlefield, but in the arena of public health.
That set a framework with federal workers which continues to today.
In 1777, General George Washington knew that before he could make independence a reality for the Thirteen Colonies, and later defeat the British Army in the Revolutionary War, he first had to deal with a smallpox epidemic.
Lindsay M. Chervinsky, the executive director of the , told 海角社区app that Washington looked at smallpox as a bigger threat than the redcoats.
鈥淲ashington famously wrote that if the disease raged naturally, they had more to dread from it than from the sword of the enemy,鈥� Chervinsky said. 鈥淗e also understood that most British officers and many of the British soldiers were going to be immune, both from either natural immunity or naturally acquired immunity or through inoculation.鈥�
Washington, according to Chervinsky, was also immune because he had gotten smallpox as a teenager while spending time with his brother in Barbados.
Knowing he was immune, Washington understood the threat to the men that served under him. Many were from rural parts of the young nation and lacked immunity.
This created a major strategic setback for the American army.
鈥淧andemics tended to concentrate in people who were living in close quarters, who maybe didn’t have the best living conditions, or maybe not as well fed as they should be, and especially in winter,鈥� said Chervinsky.
The army was inoculated in phases, starting with the new recruits.
鈥淚t was treated as the most top-secret piece of information,鈥� Chervinsky said. 鈥淚f the British knew that a large portion of the American army was basically on bed rest, it would make them incredibly vulnerable.鈥�
Like with what happened with the covid vaccines in the early part of this decade, Chervinsky said, there was “a lot of fear” among the population, and pushback among some members of the army.
鈥淚t wasn’t like a vaccine today,鈥� Chervinsky said. 鈥淵ou weren’t just getting sort of reduced strength cells, you’re actually getting the disease.鈥�
Chervinsky pointed out that some people died and others had smallpox scars on their faces.
鈥淭here was real, genuine cause for fear and for alarm, but it was orders from above, and so that’s what was done,鈥� Chervinsky said.
While it鈥檚 hard to pinpoint the exact number of smallpox-related deaths during this time, noted that estimates were staggering, writing that 鈥渇or every soldier who fell to the British, ten died from some sort of disease.鈥�
Washington鈥檚 bold move of ordering the mandatory inoculation made sure his army could continue to fight by turning a potential disaster into a victory and independence, enabling us to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
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