A Vaccine Panic North of the Border
Our neighbors to the north are often contrasted with the US as the “saner” North Americans. However, when it comes to vaccines, there was a time when Canadians were just as kooky as Uncle Sam’s kin. Ever since inoculation was developed, there has never been a shortage of a vocal – and often irrational – minority to vehemently protest, rile up the community, and whip up a panic against efforts to combat the spread of infectious diseases. With the spread of education and public knowledge of vaccination, such anti-vaccine activists usually lose – but not before they have caused significant damage. Sometimes though they outright win, and the results tend to be catastrophic. One such anti-vaccine victory occurred in Montreal, in 1885.
It began that March, when a train conductor infected with smallpox took to bed in a local hotel. He recovered, but a laundry maid caught the disease from his linens. She expired on April 2nd, but not before she had passed it on to her sister, who also died. By late summer, the smallpox had spread all over Montreal and its surroundings. When the contagion came to an end, the region had experienced an epidemic with shockingly high fatality rates. More than 6000 died, and 13,000 were disfigured, most of them children. The overwhelming majority of them would not have gotten sick in the first place, if not for the success of an irrational anti-vaccine campaign.
