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Welcome to Seminar Four
How Smallpox Disease Influenced the
Development of Public Health Laws
Smallpox
• Smallpox originated over 3,000 years ago
in India or Egypt,
• One of the most devastating diseases
known to humanity.
• For centuries, repeated epidemics swept
across continents, decimating populations
and changing the course of history.
(World Health Organization http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/#content)
• SMALLPOX IS A SERIOUS,
CONTAGIOUS INFECTIOUS DISEASE
• THE ONLY PREVENTION IS
VACCINATION
• THE DISEASE IS ERADICATED AFTER
A GLOBAL VACCINATION PROGRAM
Smallpox
• THE LAST CASE OF SMALLPOX IN THE
UNITED STATES WAS IN 1949
• THE LAST NATURALLY OCCURRING CASE
IN THE WORLD WAS IN SOMALIA IN 1977
• SMALLPOX IS CAUSED BY THE VARIOLA
VIRUS EMERGED IN HUMAN POPULATIONS
THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO.
• EXCEPT FOR LABORATORY STOCKPILES,
THE VARIOLA VIRUS HAS BEEN
ELIMINATED
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL (HTTP://WWW.BT.CDC.GOV/AGENT/SMALLPOX/OVERVIEW/DISEASE-FACTS.ASP)
Smallpox
• HEIGHTENED AWARENESS THE
VARIOLA VIRUS MIGHT BE USED AS
AN AGENT OF BIOTERRORISM.
• U.S. GOVERNMENT IS TAKING
PRECAUTIONS FOR DEALING WITH A
A SMALLPOX OUTBREAK.
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL (HTTP://WWW.BT.CDC.GOV/AGENT/SMALLPOX/OVERVIEW/DISEASE-FACTS.ASP)
Smallpox
• In the early 1950s – 150 years after the
introduction of vaccination
• Estimated 50 million cases of smallpox
occurred in the world each year, a figure
which fell to around 10–15 million by 1967
because of vaccination.
(World Health Organization http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/#content)
Smallpox
• 12-1999, WHO concluded while
vaccination is the only proven public
health measure available to prevent and
control a smallpox outbreak, current
vaccine supplies are extremely limited
(World Health Organization http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/smallpox/en/#content)
Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Public
Health Law
“Late 19th century the Board of Health of the city of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, issued an ordinance
compelling vaccination and imposing a fine of $5 for
noncompliance”
• “Reverend Henning Jacobson resisted, challenging
the ordinance as in violation of the due process
protections of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution. Failing in the lower courts, he
ultimately took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in
1904”
(http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/jacobson/pdfs/public_health_guide.pdf)
Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Public
Health Law
“Setting historical precedent, the Supreme Court
affirmed that states may limit individual
liberty in order to carry out warranted, well-established
public health interventions.
This seminal opinion has served as the constitutional
foundation for state actions which limit liberty in the
name of public health. (Parmet, et. al., 2005, p. 652)
Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Public
Health Law
In 1905, the United States Supreme Court
handed down a landmark ruling
“The balance between the rights of
individual Americans and those of
society as a whole”
• The issue before the Court was whether
the state of Massachusetts could compel
citizens to be vaccinated against smallpox
(http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/jacobson/pdfs/public_health_guide.pdf)
Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Public
Health Law
“The Court’s ruling established foundational
law with important implications for the
protection of Americans’ legal rights and,
equally, for government’s ability to protect all
citizens against infectious disease epidemics
and many other potentially catastrophic
health threats”.
(http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/jacobson/pdfs/public_health_guide.pdf)
Resources
Smallpox Vaccine Injury Law Project
Louisiana State University School of Law
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blaw/bt/smallpox.htm
Military Policy
http://www.smallpox.mil/
“Jacobson v. Massachusetts and Public Health Law:
Perspectives in 2005”
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/jacobson/pdfs/public_health_gui
de.pdf