1800 — July-Oct Smallpox epidemic blamed on virulent smallpox vaccine, Marblehead MA– 68

–68  Link. The Vaccine Controversy: The History, Use, and Safety of Vaccinations. 2005, p. 23.

Narrative Information

Link: “Marblehead, Massachusetts, 1800. In July 1800, Jenner[1]…sent a sample of smallpox vaccine to Benjamin Waterhouse in Marblehead Massachusetts. The community was smallpox free, but Waterhouse initiated a vaccination program. At first all went well, but as the summer wore on, more and more severe reactions occurred. By October a frank smallpox epidemic gripped the town and killed sixty-eight of its residents. In retrospect, it appears that the vaccine that Jenner gave to Waterhouse contained an attenuated smallpox virus that reverted to full virulence.”

Source

Link, Kurt, MD. The Vaccine Controversy: The History, Use, and Safety of Vaccinations. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2005. Google preview accessed 6-2-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ViexJgBVZksC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] Edward Jenner, “a country doctor in England, is credited with developing the first vaccine, made from a related cowpox, that made people resistant to smallpox.” (LinK, p. 12)