Martin Friedrich's Argument Against Vaccination

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Vaccination is the practice of inoculating the body with a small dose of a pathogen in order to force one’s immune system to produce antibodies that will destroy it and result in immunization against invasion. The purpose of vaccination is to create a population immune to a particular pathogen based on acquiring immunity against the pathogen by the vast majority of residents within a community over time. When the pathogen no longer poses a threat to that population, the community successfully develops herd immunity.
“Vaccines are never one hundred percent effective for everybody, so even vaccinated people can become infected with diseases against which they were immunized. But if enough people in apopulation are effectively immunized against …show more content…

His opposition to vaccination was scandalous, as a health official he was among the most prevalent enthusiasts of the pro-vaccination movement. This was a major concern because it showed that opposition to vaccination was not a debate brought forth only by the people who did not comprehend the idea of vaccination and therefore doubted its efficiency, but it was also a concern of the more powerful and knowledgeable people. Martin Friedrich’s opposition to vaccination was brought upon after witnessing people he had required to get vaccinated for tetanus fell ill and died. After the episodes, he abstained from pro-vaccination campaigns and resorted to different solutions to fight against smallpox. After stopping the vaccination process in Cleveland, Friedrich ordered all those who had been infected with smallpox to remain isolated to prevent the spread of disease, and took it upon himself to disinfect all homes in the city through the use of formaldehyde generators through the city. By the end of 1901 Friedrich had smallpox under control. This respite from the outbreak was only temporary, up until a smallpox infected homeless man from New Jersey came into Cleveland just a year later, and infected the entire city. In retaliation to this, Friedrich took it upon himself to study the safety and efficiency of vaccination and finally concluded that vaccination was necessary to ensure herd immunity against smallpox. Through, once again, reinforcing the requirement for vaccination by means of a smallpox vaccination mandate, he managed to eradicate the smallpox problem within the next two years (Giving Families Best

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