Benjamin Waterhouse Inspired by Edward Jenner: Waterhouse was influenced by Edward Jenner’s 1796 discovery that cowpox could protect against smallpox. Introduced Vaccine to U.S.: On July 8, 1800, he administered the first successful smallpox vaccinations in the United States in Boston, Massachusetts First Patients: He vaccinated his five-year-old son, Daniel Oliver Waterhouse, and a household servant, Samuel Carter, using cowpox material...

Smallpox vaccination becomes mandatory in England & Wales Vaccination Act of 1853 Passed: August 1, 1853 What it mandated: Compulsory smallpox vaccination for all infants born in England and Wales Parents or guardians were required to have their child vaccinated within 3 months of birth Vaccination was to be carried out free of charge by public vaccinators appointed by the Poor Law authorities Enforcement Measures Non-compliance could result in...

French Chemist Louis Pasteur In 1879, Louis Pasteur made a groundbreaking discovery that laid the foundation for modern vaccines: he developed the first attenuated (weakened) vaccine using the chicken cholera bacterium (Pasteurella multocida). Background: Before this, Pasteur had already made significant contributions to microbiology, including work on fermentation and germ theory. In the late 1870s, he turned his attention to animal...

French Chemist Louis Pasteur In 1885, Louis Pasteur achieved a major medical milestone by successfully using a Rabies Vaccine to treat a young boy who had been bitten by a rabid dog. This event marked a turning point in both the understanding of infectious diseases and the development of immunization. Date of Event:July 6, 1885 The Patient: Name: Joseph Meister Age: 9 years old Hometown: Alsace, France Incident: Bitten multiple times by a...

Sir Almroth Edward Wright The typhoid vaccine developed in 1896 by Sir Almroth Edward Wright was a pioneering moment in medical science. Here are detailed points about his work and its historical context: Background: Typhoid fever, caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi, was a major cause of illness and death in the 19th century, particularly among soldiers and in overcrowded cities Before Wright’s vaccine, there was no reliable way to...

By 1900 nearly half the states had school vaccination laws By 1900, a number of U.S. states had established school vaccination mandates, primarily targeting smallpox, which was the most feared and common vaccine-preventable disease at the time. These laws typically required children to be vaccinated against smallpox in order to attend public schools. States with School Vaccination Mandates by 1900 (These mandates were mostly for smallpox...

Jacobson v Massachusetts The 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), is a landmark decision that upheld the authority of states to enforce compulsory vaccination laws under their police powers to protect public health. Timeline of Events in Jacobson v. Massachusetts: Late 1800s – Early 1900s: Smallpox outbreaks were occurring across the United States, including in Massachusetts Massachusetts passed laws allowing...

Zucht v King Zucht v. King (1922) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the authority of local governments to enforce school vaccination requirements, even in the absence of a current disease outbreak. Background: The case originated in San Antonio, Texas, where Rosalyn Zucht, a student, was excluded from both public and private schools for failing to present a vaccination certificate Her family sued, arguing that the ordinance...

Dr Leila Denmark Dr. Leila Denmark, a pioneering pediatrician in the United States, also worked on the development of a pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Key Facts: Timeframe: Dr. Denmark’s work on the pertussis vaccine occurred around 1928–1930. Location: She conducted her research while working at E. Glenn Hospital in Georgia and in collaboration with Emory University and Eli Lilly & Company....

Diphtheria | Tetanus | Pertussis Vaccine DTP Trivalent Vaccine Standardized: The Combined DTP (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis) vaccine was first released and licensed for use in the United States in 1948. Key Date:  1948 – The first trivalent DTP vaccine (combining diphtheria & tetanus toxoids with whole-cell pertussis) is licensed and begins widespread use for routine childhood immunization in the U.S. and shortly after in other countries....

The Cutter Incident and Its Impact In 1955, Cutter Laboratories, a California-based company, was among the first licensed to produce the Salk polio vaccine. However, some batches of their vaccine contained live poliovirus due to incomplete inactivation processes. This led to what became known as the "Cutter Incident," resulting in over 200,000 children being exposed to the live virus, with 70,000 developing muscle weakness, 164 suffering from...

  MMR Vaccine: (1st Trivalent Measels | Mumps | Rubella vaccine) Release Date: March 1, 1971 Manufacturer: Merck & Co   MMR Vaccine Lawsuit Settlements: Total Number of Lawsuits: Over 10,000 lawsuits were filed against Merck & Co. alleging that the MMR vaccine caused injuries such as autism, seizures, and other neurological disorders. Types of Injuries: (The most common injuries alleged in the lawsuits included:) Autism Seizures Neurological...

President Gerald Ford February 1976: CDC Identifies Virus CDC identifies the virus as a novel H1N1 strain, similar to the 1918 pandemic virus The Ford administration (President Gerald Ford) is informed and briefed on potential risks Public health experts worry it could trigger a global pandemic March 1976: US Government Response CDC and health officials call for a mass immunization campaign President Gerald Ford announces a plan to vaccinate...

Swine Flu Vaccine Spring–Summer 1976: No further cases of swine flu are detected outside Fort Dix Debate intensifies among scientists and officials about the need for mass vaccination The insurance industry refuses to cover potential liabilities from vaccine side effects Congress passes legislation to indemnify vaccine manufacturers against lawsuits

CDC recommends suspension of the program October–December 1976: Adverse Events & Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) Reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder, begin to surface Approximately 45 million people are vaccinated Over 500 cases of GBS reported, with at least 25 deaths attributed Public concern and media coverage intensify Public confidence drops sharply December 16, 1976: Vaccination Program Suspended Over 45 million...

Known as Public Law 96-517 This law allows universities and small businesses to retain title to inventions conceived or reduced to practice with federal funding. The act encourages commercialization of research by allowing institutions to license inventions to private sector companies. According to the law, institutions must file for patent protection within a certain timeframe (18 months) to maintain their rights. The act also establishes a...

By 1986, the schedule had grown to 25 doses of 12 vaccines. This included DTP, OPV, MMR (introduced in 1965), the HIB, and Td vaccines. With multiple trivalent vaccines now on the market, children could receive 6 vaccines in just two injections. Compliance was up, but there were many cases of injury and vaccine manufacturerswere paying out millions to compensate injured recipients. They successfully lobbied Congress to reduce their liability....

In 1994, Wakefield publishes a study in the medical journal, The Lancet, sharing his findings in a paper titled “Is Measles Vaccine a Risk Factor for Inflammatory Bowel Disease?” 

  By 1996, Wakefield’s visibility as a scientist investigating the measles/gut connection reaches  Solicitor Richard Barr of Dawbarns Law Firm, who consults with Wakefield to ask for his assistance in determining, medically and scientifically, whether MMR vaccine could cause autistic regression and inflammatory bowel disease in children who were allegedly injured by measles-containing vaccines. Barr is representing a group of parents who claim MMR...

  In February 1998 Professor Arie Zuckerman, Dean of the Medical School at The Royal Free Hospital, holds a press conference to publicize The Lancet paper. Wakefield informs Zuckerman and his colleagues in advance, in writing, that he has significant concerns about the safety of MMR vaccine, alerting them explicitly to what he knew would be a very controversial stance. Dean Zuckerman acknowledges Dr. Wakefield's concerns prior to the press...

The Simpsonwood meeting, held in June 2000, was a private conference organized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the Simpsonwood Retreat Center in Norcross, Georgia. It involved government scientists, public health officials, and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry. The focus was on analyzing data about thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines, and potential links to neurodevelopmental...

  By 2002, there are so many claims of vaccine injury / autism made by American families through the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program -- a federal vaccine injury program replacing market liability for vaccine makers -- that the total compensation burden is poised to overwhelm the compensation fund. Cases are bundled together in what becomes known as the ‘Omnibus Autism...

  January 2012, Wakefield files a defamation suit against Brian Deer and the British Medical Journal in Travis County, Texas. Jurisdiction is denied in the face of all legal precedent and the case never comes to trial.

Directed by Andrew J Wakefield In 2014, Wakefield's first film, Who Killed Alex Spourdalakis? is released and is critically acclaimed. This unprecedented documentary captures the events that precipitated the murder of a Chicago teen. Filmed in the months leading up to his murder, the film shows what and who actually contributed to his death. Alex's tragedy tells a story of our time: the systemic failure of the US healthcare system to treat...

Directed by Andrew J Wakefield Man and microbe, from Polio to COVID19... a never more relevant forensic examination of the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act and its consequences. What happens when an ancient wisdom – a mother’s intuition - is pitted against powerful interests in a race against time? 1986: The Act contains substantial amounts of new and little-known information about vaccine‘safety’ corruption, and the 1986 National...

  The book "Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak" is authored by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brian Hooker PhD. It is based on over one hundred studies in the peer-reviewed literature that consider vaccinated versus unvaccinated populations. Each study is analyzed, and health differences among infants, children, and adults who have been vaccinated and those who have not are presented and put in context. The book covers various topics such as the...