COMPULSORY VACCINATION NOT NECESSARY AND NOT EFFECTIVE FOR THE HEALTH OF ARMIES OR POPULATIONS. FAILURE OF VACCINATION IN U. S. ARMY OFFICIALLY ADMITTED
There is another strong consideration which I think should move you, Mr. President, toward abolishing this evil of compulsory vaccination with “cruel and unusual” punishment, and that is: That this compulsion and punishment is not really necessary for any military purpose or efficiency, as is proved by several facts in the past and present practice and experience of our own and other armies, for example: First: In the Russian-Japanese war the Japanese adopted for almost the first time the modern, effective system of general military sanitation and hygiene, but used no typhoid vaccination, and yet the army suffered very little from typhoid fever. Second: Per contra, in the Gallipoli expedition in the recent war the English soldiers were generally inoculated with typhoid vaccines, but at the same time the most unsanitary conditions prevailed in camp and field, and the result was a great loss from typhoid and other fevers among the vaccinated. Third: In the U. S. Army in France in 1918, in several camps where sanitation and hygiene were grossly neglected, typhoid vaccination proved to be little or no protection, and it has been officially admitted to be a great failure, as typhoid epidemics prevailed extensively in said camps with a high death-rate among the well vaccinated men. See official report on this subject from the Chief Surgeon of the A. E. F. in U. S. Public Health Reports of March 28, 1919, entitled, “Typhoid Vaccination no Substitute for Sanitary Precautions.” See also page 207 in the annexed Supplement. Fourth: Vaccination is now voluntary in the English Army, and it is estimated that from five to ten per cent. of the Army is unvaccinated. Fifth: There is no court-martial or punishment for refusing vaccination in the English Army, as is shown by a recent inquiry in the English Parliament, reported as follows:
“Official Parliamentary Debates, April 23, 1918, Column 833.
“Mr. Chancellor asked the Under-Secretary for War, Mr. Macpherson:
“Question A. Whether refusal of vaccination by any soldier is a military crime. Answer A. Refusal by a soldier to be vaccinated is not an offence punishable under the Army Act.
“Question B. Whether any officer is authorized to inflict punishment of any kind for such refusal. Answer B. No officer is authorized to inflict punishment for such refusal.
“Question C. Whether the fact of a man who joined when vaccination was compulsory, having assented reluctantly then, alters his legal position now that vaccination is no longer subject to legal compulsion in the Army. Answer C. Soldiers voluntarily enlisted who, at the time of their enlistment, agreed in their attestation papers to be vaccinated, cannot be punished under the Army Act for refusing to be vaccinated.”
Now, in these facts I think it is distinctly proved that compulsory vaccination is neither necessary nor surely effective as a protective remedy, but is of doubtful value as a preventive, and is not necessary where efficient sanitation and hygiene are used, as is now the practice in modern armies; and, hence, vaccination should not be forced on any soldier or sailor under penalty of drastic punishments for refusal, but should be left to the free and voluntary assent of each man, as it now is in the English Army. Furthermore, it is believed that, instead of forcing wholesale compulsory disease upon the Army, with the vain idea of increasing health, equal effort and expense devoted to true sanitation and hygiene would surely produce better results, as emphatically proved by recent critical experience in our own Army, as just cited. See also page 210.