6 - Vaccine’s Conquest of Napoleonic Europe

Summary

Chapter 6 discusses how France, hesitant about smallpox inoculation, embraced cowpox inoculation and the Napoleonic regime provided strong support and direction. After the first successful vaccination in Paris in August 1800, vaccine was rapidly distributed through France. In 1803, the Minister of Interior instituted a central vaccination committee in the capital and instructed prefects to form subordinate committees to support the practice in the provinces. Napoleon himself was committed to the practice and the practice prospered under a regime that had no doubts as to its merits and potential contribution to the nation’s welfare and prosperity. In the context of large-scale military mobilisation, several million citizens were vaccinated before 1815. The French system, ill-funded but quite effective, was extended to the client states and annexed territories of the Napoleonic empire, providing further scope for Dr Sacco’s enterprise in Italy and laying firm foundations for the practice in the Netherlands.