Abstract
Después de una epidemia de viruela en Alemania a principios de la década de 1870 a raíz de la guerra francoalemana, la vacuna antivariólica se hizo obligatoria por Ley Imperial en 1874. La ley se debatió acaloradamente en el parlamento y en público, y la resistencia ya existente contra la vacunación se convirtió en un movimiento político antivacunas. Por ello, el gobierno alemán adoptó una serie de medidas de seguridad. El artículo actual describe, en primer lugar, las prácticas, regulaciones y políticas de vacunación en los estados alemanes hasta la década de 1870, y los desarrollos biopolíticos que llevaron a la Ley Imperial sobre la vacunación antivariólica obligatoria en 1874. En segundo lugar, se esbozan el debate público y la crítica sobre la vacunación, preguntando por qué la vacunación obligatoria tuvo éxito en Alemania. Se describen las medidas aplicadas por el gobierno alemán para promover la vacunación obligatoria y la aceptación de la Ley Imperial: inicialmente, las vacunas contra la viruela se fabricaban por centros de producción estatales supervisados por las autoridades locales. Se recopilaban estadísticas de todo el imperio que documentaban el éxito de la vacunación, así como los efectos secundarios relacionados. Desde la perspectiva del gobierno, estas precauciones podrían interpretarse como una tecnología de confianza.
Highlights
After a smallpox epidemic in Germany in the early 1870s in the wake of the Franco-German War, smallpox vaccination became compulsory by Imperial Law in 1874
The current article describes, firstly, vaccination practices, regulations and policies in the German states up to the 1870s and the biopolitical developments that led to the Imperial Law on compulsory smallpox vaccination in 1874
The article describes the measures implemented by the German government to promote compulsory vaccination and acceptance of the Imperial Law: initially, smallpox vaccines were manufactured by state-run production sites and supervised by local authorities
Summary
As elsewhere in Europe, in 18th century Germany smallpox was well-known and feared as a major threat to individual and public health, as well as to public order. Dating back to early modern times in the Middle East, where smallpox was endemic, laymen and especially older peasant women applied fresh lymph or dried crusts, taken from convalescing patients who had suffered a milder form of smallpox, under the skin of children who hadn’t yet been infected.9 After this procedure, the children tended to manifest milder symptoms, avoid severe pockmarks and blindness, and were considered to have lifelong protection against the disease.. The medical and lay practice was limited to small local areas.12 It was only after Edward Jenner published accounts of his experiments on the inoculation of cowpox that vaccination became public knowledge. The Prime Minister of Prussia and later German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, as well as leading Prussian military commanders complained after the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 that they had lost more troops to cholera than to combat operations.21 In this context, the compulsory re-vaccination of Prussian soldiers against smallpox was first and foremost a measure of military strategy and planning. Epidemics had economic consequences and needed to be prevented by any means necessary, as the Imperial Health Office’s publication “Blattern und Schutzpockenimpfung” emphasised: “Caring for the sick and controlling the disease demanded much money; during the epidemic, the labour force shrank and disease-related invalids had to be supported for the rest of their lives; and in total, the exchange of goods dropped and the national economy suffered as a consequence of the epidemic” (Blattern und Schutzpockenimpfung, 1896, p. 75-6, translation by ACH)
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