In 1796, Edward Jenner tested a popular belief: that cowpox protected against smallpox. He obtained cowpox material from a milkmaid and used it to inoculate an eight-year-old boy named James Phipps, whom he then deliberately exposed to smallpox. Because the boy did not fall ill, Jenner concluded that the procedure—cowpoxing, later given the more scientific-sounding
It is a fundamental human problem that our most cherished beliefs can diverge from reality. This gap becomes a chasm, however, when an idea is sustained not merely by longevity and cultural inertia but by significant economic incentives. Under these conditions, the historical record is subject to a subtle yet powerful curation: evidence that contradicts
A document from 1920 exposes the dangers and consequences of vaccines. The USA document was written as a petition to the president to abolish compulsory vaccination in army and navy. The document reveals that there had been more deaths from the vaccine than from smallpox every year within 15 years. Does this ring a bell?