How smallpox changed the face of public health

The victory over smallpox shows the beginning of more modern public health and can teach us about today’s COVID-19 pandemic, historian Michael Willrich argues.

When the United States suffered a great wave of smallpox outbreaks at the turn of the 20th century, the public health field was in its infancy.

Compulsory vaccinations were haphazard and often discriminatory. Many people did not trust the vaccines or the local governments doing the vaccinating. At the time, the federal government passing nationwide vaccination measures would have been unthinkable.

The events of this time, known as the Progressive Era, paved the way for laws and regulations still in force today. Willrich, professor of history at Brandeis University, chronicled this period in American history in his award-winning book, Pox: An American History (Penguin Books, 2012).

If widespread distrust of public officials and discrimination against marginalized groups during the smallpox outbreaks made containing the virus difficult, the development of sound public health practices at the time finally defeated the epidemics.

Here, Willrich explains the outbreaks and their relevance to today’s COVID-19 pandemic:

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