How the Founding Fathers Support for Science Helped Eradicate Smallpox

The document details the historical transition from smallpox inoculation to vaccination in the United States, highlighting the roles of figures like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and James Madison. It uses Benjamin Franklin's personal tragedy—the death of his son due to a decision to avoid inoculation—as a cautionary tale against vaccine hesitancy. The text outlines the quantitative evidence that supported early inoculation efforts in Boston and the subsequent legislative and military actions that helped eradicate smallpox in the U.S. by 1949.

• Benjamin Franklin's decision to postpone the inoculation of his four-year-old son, Franky, due to the child's fragile health proved fatal, leading Franklin to later advise other parents that the safer scientific option should be chosen over caution based on uncertainty.
• Quantitative data from a 1721 smallpox outbreak in Boston provided early scientific evidence for inoculation; the death rate for those inoculated was 2.5 percent (6 out of 244), compared to 14.1 percent (844 out of 5,980) for all other victims.
• Benjamin Franklin promoted the accessibility of inoculation by publishing a pamphlet in 1759 with instructions for performing the procedure without a doctor and by launching the Society for Inoculating the Poor Gratis in 1774.
• George Washington implemented inoculation as a mandatory military strategy for the Continental Army in 1777 to counter the threat of smallpox, including secret inoculations to avoid public opposition.
• President James Madison established the first major U.S. vaccine policy in 1813 through 'An Act to Encourage Vaccination,' which created a National Vaccine Agency and provided free shipping of vaccine materials via the postal service.
• Smallpox was eradicated in the United States in 1949 and globally in 1980.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2014). How the Founding Fathers Support for Science Helped Eradicate Smallpox. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/11/founding-fathers-vaccines.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. How the Founding Fathers Support for Science Helped Eradicate Smallpox. 2014. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/11/founding-fathers-vaccines.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=How the Founding Fathers Support for Science Helped Eradicate Smallpox |date=August 2014 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/11/founding-fathers-vaccines.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2014how, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{How the Founding Fathers Support for Science Helped Eradicate Smallpox}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2014}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2014/11/founding-fathers-vaccines.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }