Vaccinations

• Vaccination Act 1840:

  This permissive act meant that anybody could be vaccinated free of charge by the Poor Law medical officers. These men were used as the Poor Law represented the only national administrative network at the time, and the Poor Law medical officer was the only widely available vaccinator.
• Vaccination Act 1853:

  This compulsory act made it obligatory for parents to have their children vaccinated for smallpox within three months of birth. If parents failed to comply, they were fined £1 and the money went towards the poor rate. This made vaccination more common, but it was administrated in a haphazard way.
• Vaccination Act 1871:

  This compulsory act made it obligatory for local health boards to appoint vaccination officers and imposed fines of 25 shillings on parents who refused to have their children vaccinated, with imprisonment for those who didn't pay the fine.
• The emphasis on compulsion of vaccination led to a strong anti-vaccination movement. They ranged from the fear of central government interference in local government affairs, to rights of individuals to take a chance with death and religious objections to injections.
• Infected people with smallpox were compulsorily quarantined, as were those who had contact with them. This was accompanied by a vigorous programme of disinfecting their houses and even burning their bedding and clothes.
• The Leicester Anti-Vaccination League formed in 1869 and with the London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination carried out a campaign against the central government. This led to more towns joining in and a demonstration in Leicester in 1885, where representatives from over 50 towns joined in.
• The opposition somewhat disappeared with the introduction of a 'conscience clause' in the Smallpox Act in 1898 and by the end of the year, over 200000 exemption certificates had been issued. In 1875, only 4% of all registered births in England and Wales were of unvaccinated babies, but by 1898 this had risen to 27%. However, despite the lack of vaccinations, the deaths from smallpox continued to decrease.