Vaccination In The 19th Century

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The cost and payment of vaccination became a focal point for debate as state and local government wanted to raises taxes to provide vaccines. Although many supported the notion of levying taxes, others opposed the idea (intext). However, the most controversial aspect of vaccination in the nineteenth century was not how vaccines should be paid for but rather if citizens should be required to be immunized. Due to a decreasing number of outbreaks of smallpox, many people have not had any first hand experience to conclude the importance of vaccination. Along with the fact that the process of vaccination was rather painful and uncomfortable since the arm will remain sore for a few day leading to days off work, greatly pushed many people to avoid …show more content…
Vaccine against Diphtheria was one of the first vaccines to be made after small pox developed in the 1920s (cdc article dip (1)). The next step was to make convince citizen that this vaccine was safe and effective. One way to do this was to require it by law. As early as 1921, some public health and medical experts proposed that a requirement for registering for school, children must have been vaccinated (22). However this feared many physicians, as this vaccine was need to be administered early in a child’s life and that most parents would just wait till school years to give the shot. Also, public officials feared that this action would cause uproar similar to what was seen with e smallpox vaccine. To further promote the vaccination, public health officials began to utilize different forms of marketing medias such as magazines, billboards, posters, short films, etc. (23). Many health organizations and associations began to create clinics to help facilitate the vaccinations (25). However, the next biggest problem was that many citizen were not able to pay for the medical services and there fore the cost of vaccination was a burden (29). As a result in 1926, the Committee on the Costs of Medical care was formed. This committee carried out studies as to whether …show more content…
“Although polio imposed a relatively small burden of morbidity and mortality, it was the subject of extraordinary public fear, and its image as a crippler of children along with the excitement surrounding the trails shaped events when the vaccine was licensed in April 1955.” (the article). Demand for this polio vaccine was high and as a result the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created in 1953. However, this department was critiqued brutally after it was unable to keep up with the demands of the vaccines (36). Due to the unreliability of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a chartable organization was created, March of Dimes, which was able to purchase and distribute the states at no cost (34). At this time there has been many discussion and debates going on at capital hill regarding the proper involvement of government in providing financial assistance for polio vaccines (38). However the looming idea of “socialized medicine” feared many the discussions occurred (intext). This period in American history also marked the cold war era which brought the fear of communism so a health care provide by the government was highly unflavored. In fact, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Secretary of Health, education and welfare, opposed for federal control of vaccine (39). Nonetheless, Congress passed a bill that would allocate money to states for vaccine immunization for people under