Historical Anti-Vaccinationist Literature
Links to Books and Pamphlets Opposing Vaccination 1722-1960
Pamphlet for the British National Anti-Vaccination League.
I have put together a post with thinks to websites including Anti-Vaccination literature between 1722 and 1960. The websites mostly have PDFs you can download or you can print to PDF. I of course recommend you do as websites etc. can disappear. I compiled this list in part because of the value of what these historic critics have to say but also in part to help preserve the history of our movement. Credit goes to the websites that uploaded this material.
Here is the list at my website. I have copied it below though I will try to update it in the future when I find more relevant texts to add to the list.
Smallpox
Anti-Inoculation Texts
Inoculation was the practise of deliberately infecting people with smallpox. It was introduced in the UK by Lady Montagu and the US by Cotton Mather in the 1720s.
Massey, Isaac
Isaac Massey was a cleric opposed to the deliberate spread of disease.
A Short and Plain Account of Inoculation: With Some Remarks on the Main Arguments Made Use of to Recommend that Practice, by Mr. Maitland and Others, 1722 – On Google Books
Early 19th Century Criticism of Jennerism
Although Jenner’s method of cowpox inoculation spread rapidly, there were dissenters, many of whom who advocated the previous method of inoculation over the Jennerian method. These are included here although I would not consider those who support any form of artificial infection to be anti-vaccinationists by the modern definition of the term vaccination.
Birch, John
An Appeal to the Public on the Hazard and Peril of Vaccination, 1817 – at Archive
MacLean, Charles
On the state of vaccination in 1810; in a letter to the Right Hon. Richard Rider, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department : with remarks on the Report of the National Vaccine Establishment. Printed by order of the House of Commons, on the 1st of June, 1810 : Forming a guide for parents in deciding for the safety of their children, 1810 – At Wellcome Collection
Moseley, Benjamin
Benjamin Moseley was a notable MD who was the first to seriously oppose the ‘cow pox mania’.
A Treatise on Lues Bovilla, or Cow Pox, 2nd edition, 1805 – at Archive
An Oliver for a Rowland ; or, a cow pox epistle to the Reverend Rowland Hill, “under the wing of the Surrey Chapel”, 1807 – at Archive
A review of the Report of the Royal College of Physicians of London, on vaccination, 1808 – At Wellcome Collection
Rogers, W. R.
An examination of the part of the evidence relative to cow-pox : which was delivered to the Committee of the House of Commons, by two of the surgeons of St. Thomas’s Hospital ; with some remarks on inoculated small-pox, 1805 – At Wellcome Collection
Rowley, William
William Rowley was a prominent inoculator who chronicled smallpox infection after vaccination.
Cow-pox inoculation no security against small-pox infection … To which are added, the modes of treating the beastly new diseases produced from cow pox … With the author’s certain, experienced, and successful mode of inoculating for the small pox. Which now becomes necessary from cow-pox failure, &c;, 1805 – At Wellcome Collection
Later Nineteenth Century Critics
Later nineteenth century critics criticised both inoculation and vaccination, and generally advocated sanitation as a solution to disease.
Allinson, T. B.
Extracts from Address at Hackney, 1883 – at Informed Parent
Collins, William
Have you been vaccinated, and what protection is it against the small pox?: an essay, 1868 – At Wellcome Collection
Creighton, Charles
Charles Creighton was a doctor asked to write an article for the Encyclopaedia Britannica regarding vaccination. When he researched the issue he found that vaccination was fatally flawed. Hence the 9th edition of the Encyclopaedia contains an article on vaccination by an antivaccinationist.
The natural history of cow-pox and vaccinal syphilis, 1887 – at Wellcome Collection
Encyclopaedica Britannica Article on Vaccination, 1888 – at whale.to
Jenner and Vaccination: A Strange Chapter of Medical History, 1889 – at Archive
A History of Epidemics in Britain, 1891 – at Archive
Crookshank, Edgar
History and Pathology of Vaccination, Vol 1, – at Google books / At Wellcome Collection
History and Pathology of Vaccination, Vol 2 [This is a collection of essays written mostly by pro-vaccinationists such as Jenner, Estlin, Ceely, et al. that elucidates the history of vaccination] – at google books
Nittinger, C. G. G.
Nittinger’s Evils of Vaccination, 1856 – at PubMed
Pearce, Charles
Vaccination : its tested effects on health, mortality, and population. An essay, 1868 – At Wellcome Collection
Vital Statistics: Smallpox and Vaccination in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Continental Countries and Cities, 1882 – At Archive
Pickering, John
Anti-vaccination: the statistics of the Medical Officers to the Leeds Small-pox Hospital exposed and refuted, in a letter to the Leeds Board of Guardians, 1876 – At Wellcome Collection / At whale.to
Ross, A. M.
Smallpox and Vaccination, 1888 – at vaclib
Taylor, P. A.
Liberal M.P. opposed to vaccination.
Current Fallacies About Vaccination, 1881 – at vaclib
Anti-Vaccination, 1882 – at vaclib
Speeches of Mr. P.A. Taylor and Mr. C.H. Hopwood on vaccination : in the House of Commons, June 19th, 1883, 1883 – at archive
Tebb, William
Leprosy and Vaccination: The Recrudescence of Leprosy and Its Causation, 1893 – At whale.to
Tebb, William Scott
A century of vaccination and what it teaches, 1899 – at Wellcome Collection
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Co discoverer of Natural Selection with Darwin and passionate anti-vaccinationist.
Vaccination: Proved Useless & Dangerous from Forty Five Years of Registration Statistics, 1889 – At Archive
Vaccination a Delusion, Its Penal Enforcement a Crime, 1898 – At vaclib
A Summary of the Proofs That Vaccination Does Not Prevent Smallpox but Really Increases It, 1904 – at whale.to
White, William
The Story of a Great Delusion, 1885 – at whale.to
Twentieth Century Critics
Anderson, H. R.
The Facts Against Compulsory Vaccination, 1929 – at vaclib
Bayly, M. B.
The Case Against Vaccination, 1936 – at whale.to
Biggs, J. T.
Leicester rejected compulsory smallpox vaccination after the outbreak of 1871.
Leicester: Sanitation or Vaccination, 1912 – At Wellcome Collection / at whale.to
Deane, Tenison
The Crime of Vaccination: Or Bacteria, X.Y.Z., 1913 – at whale.to
Hadwen, Walter
The Dangers of Vaccination, 1918 – At the Informed Parent
Vaccination A Fraud, 1923 – at whale.to
Serious Results of Vaccination, 1926 – at The Informed Parent
Higgins, Chas
Horrors of Vaccination Exposed and Illustrated, 1920 – At Yale
Hodge, John
The Vaccination Superstition: Prophylaxis to be Realized Through the Attainment of Health, 1902 – At Archive
Lupton, Arnold
Liberal Party M.P. who opposed vaccination
Vaccination and the State, 1921 – at whale.to
Peebles, J. M.
Vaccination a curse and a menace to personal liberty: with statistics showing its dangers and criminality, 1900 – At Wellcome Collection
Pitcairn, John
The Fallacy Of Vaccination, 1911 – at whale.to
Swan, Joseph
The Vaccination Problem, 1936 – At Informed Parent
Trobridge, Arthur
The Vagaries of Vaccination Propaganda – at VacLib
National Anti-Vaccination League
The Brighton Smallpox Outbreak, 1950-1, at Informed Parent
Rabies
In the 1880s Louis Pasteur developed a hydrophobia or rabies vaccine.
Dolan, Thomas
Pasteur and Rabies, 1890 – At Archive
Hume, Ethel Douglas
Bechamp or Pasteur?: A lost chapter in the history of biology, 1932 – At Archive
Morden, Millicent
Statement during United States Hearings – at Google Books
Rabies Past Present in Scientific Review – at whale.to
Pearson, R. B.
The Dream & Lie of Louis Pasteur, 1942 – at whale.to
Victoria Street Society for the Protection of Animals from Vivisection
M. Pasteur’s Hecatomb [List of deaths after Rabies Vaccine], 1889 – accessible via VacLib
Diphtheria
Bayly, M. B.
The Schick Inoculation for Diphtheria, 1939 – at whale.to
What is Used in Diphtheria Immunisation?, 1940s pamphlet – at Informed Parent
National Anti-Vaccination League
Why do the Majority of Doctors Support Anti-Diphtheria Immunisation?, 1944, at Informed Parent
Polio
Bayly, M. B.
The Story of the Salk Anti-Poliomyelitis Vaccine, 1956 – at whale.to
Biskind, Morton
DDT Poisoning and the Elusive “Virus X”: A New Cause For Gastro-Enteritis, 1949 – at whale.to
DDT Poisoning A New Syndrome With Neuropsychiatric Manifestations, 1949 – at whale.to
Statement On Clinical Intoxication From DDT And Other New Insecticides, 1951 – at whale.to
Miller, Duon H.
Duon H. Miller was a businessman who opposed polio vaccines in the 1950s.
Various pamphlets – available via VacLib
Sandler, Benjamin
Diet Prevents Polio, 1951 – at whale.to
Scobey, Ralph
Poisoning as the Cause of Poliomyelitis, 1950 – at archive
Is The Public Health Law Responsible For The Poliomyelitis Mystery?, 1951 – at whale.to
The Poison Cause of Poliomyelitis And Obstructions To Its Investigation, 1952 – at whale.to
Is the Cause of Poliomyelitis always the Same?, 1953 – at archive
Is Human Poliomyelitis Caused By An Exogenous Virus?, 1954 – at whale.to
Zeisler, Ernest
The Great Salk Vaccine Fiasco, 1960 – at whale.to
National Anti Vaccination League
Connection of Poliomyelitis With Inoculation, 1952 – at The Informed Parent
Tuberculosis
National Anti Vaccination League
Is Mass Vacciantion With BCG Always Warranted in the Scandinavian Countries?, 1957 – At the Informed Parent
Books that Address Multiple Vaccines
Forward, Charles
The Golden Calf, 1933 – At whale.to (Smallpox, Diphtheria, Tetanus)
Hadwen, Walter
Dr. Walter Robert Hadwen’s works [1900-1910 approx] – at Wellcome Collection (Smallpox, anti toxin treatment for Diphtheria. Not all these essays are on Vaccination)
Loat, Lily
Secretary of the British National Anti Vaccination League for 50 odd years.
The Truth About Vaccination and Immunisation, 1951 – at whale.to (Smallpox and Diphtheria)
McBean, Eleanor
The Poisoned Needle, 1957 – at whale.to (Smallpox, Polio)
What a gem! Thank you so much for sharing all of these resources in one article!!
DAYS OF NO IMMUNITY. Mandatory Smallpox Vaccination leads to a massive protest in a 19th century English city. Listen to the hit song. https://turfseer.substack.com/p/days-of-no-immunity
A song about the first major victim of Medical Tyranny in the United States. Watch THE BALLAD OF TYPHOID MARY. https://turfseer.substack.com/p/the-ballad-of-typhoid-mary
Edgar Allan Poe meets the specter of Jonas Salk and his polio vaccine in Turfseer’s lockdown dirge “NEVERMORE.” Listen to it here: https://turfseer.substack.com/p/nevermore.