"Vaccinations in Medfield - 250 Years Ago!"

A Snippet of Medfield History...

"Vaccinations in Medfield - 250 Years Ago!"

By Claire Shaw

"Now that the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be loosening its grip on the United States, it is worth looking back on an early attempt to safely control the outbreaks of smallpox that beleaguered early settlers in Medfield and other parts of Massachusetts. People who had previously experienced what was known as cow pox seemed immune to the more menacing smallpox.

Newly-minted Boston physician Joseph Warren, who opened his practice in 1763, was faced with the arrival of that dreaded scourge during the winter of 1764. In what might now be described as a clinic, Dr. Warren and Dr. Nathaniel Perkins inoculated many of Boston’s citizens and visitors, including John Adams. Dr. Warren survived the smallpox epidemic of that year only to die in 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was engaged to the caregiver of his four children, Mercy Scollay, who is buried in Medfield’s Vine Lake Cemetery.

In 1776, in yet another outbreak, inoculations were taking place in Medfield, “. . . Providing said persons att their One expence. . .” (Tilden, p. 167) made arrangements to quarantine away from others. The home of Joseph and John Baxter was used as hospital.

Employing a technique known as variolation, the inoculation comprised cutting into the skin, laying a cowpox-laden string into the cut and covering it with gauze, successfully ameliorating mass epidemics of smallpox. The process was first reported in China in the 16th century, but English physician Edward Jenner is credited with inventing the smallpox vaccine in 1796. He was the first to publish evidence that it was effective and to provide advice on its production."