Does Vaccination Prevent Smallpox? (The Theosophist, Vol. 2, March,
1881, pp. 119-120)
(An
unsigned article, not included in her collected writings, but identified as
Blavatsky in some circles. It seems to have a specifically Theosophical
perspective.) Blavatsky is wont to comment on quite a wide variety of
scientific writings, sometimes quite specialized, technical, not to say obscure
documents, and in this case three documents are being analyzed. One article on
epidemics, another on vaccinations, and a third short magazine notice on animal
microbiology.
The first one is interesting as it corroborates certain cyclical aspects
of her esoteric theories of epidemics in other writings. It
is a review of an article ‘The Sanitary Millenium’ (Journal of Science (JamesSamuelson, William Crookes, eds.), November, 1889, pp. 701-709) which
is a review John Parkin’s ‘Epidemiology,or, the remote cause of epidemic diseases in the animal and in the vegetablecreation v. 1’,
(J. and A. Churchill, 1873). She (or Olcott)
ends this part with a quote pointing to the usefulness of self-isolating as a
preventive measure (In an interview, she once pointed out the value of social distancing: "Of
course: there is a great mystery in Oriental exclusiveness in the unwillingness
to touch. The Oriental sense is finer than ours, much more sensitive to
emanations of every kind, spiritual and material, and it holds that the best
way of purification is to keep from defilement." (English Morning News of Paris, April 21, 1884)
The second document is a Lahore university report by Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner advising the Indian government against vaccinations , ‘Proceedings of the Anjuman-i-Punjab, in connection with the proposed Vaccination Bill, and Dr. Cunningham’s Sanitary Primer’ (Simla, 1879). The first objection is on religious grounds. The second argument is based on statistical analysis. What is interesting is that a primitive notion of the possibility of herd immunity is considered. Another point of interest is that there seems to be a primitive awareness of the problem of virus mutation; although not discovered at that time, some of the effects of that problem are discussed, to her credit. She ends her discussion by calling upon a comparative approach between modern medicine and traditional Hindu knowledge.
She (or Olcott) later reiterated her
qualified, critical support of the anti-vaccination movement with a review of The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review, the Organ of the London
Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination (Unsigned, not included in
her Collected Writings) ‘’The subject of compulsory Vaccination deeply concerns
the people of India,
who number 25 kotis, and by law are compelled, under sever penalties for
refusal or neglect, to be vaccinated. The letter from Mr. Tebb, the
philanthropist, will be read with interest no doubt. We give it place
therefore, although we should not be willing to open often our editorial doors
to questions which are almost outside our limits. The THEOSOPHIST has to war
upon another and even worse form of inoculation—the empoisoning of the Hindu
mind with the views of modern scepticism.’’ (TheTheosophist, January, 1883, p. 92)
It might be worth noting that
in 1992, William Q. Judge lectured on epidemics and microbe theory:‘’In a similar manner,
bacteriologists have proved how the microbes of different kinds increase by the
million with amazing speed. No
theosophist should deny that science is right in saying that microbes produce
disease and also prevent it. For it is an old theosophical, and once secret,
doctrine that the microbes—then called lives—are divided into two classes, one
called builders and the other, destroyers. These, it was held, warred with each
other, and whichever side won, the result was disease and death, or health and
life. This, too, the old theosophists held, was the cause of man’s term of
life. For if the builders won all the time up to maturity they again divided
themselves into two classes and, beginning to devour each other, at last brought
about the death of the body at about 70 years of age.’’ (WilliamQ. Judge of Brooklyn Tells of the Microbe Theory, The Brooklyn Eagle, 1892) Also note what Godolphin Mitford wrote in 'The Elixir of Life': If this is so in the case of the high adept, how
much more necessary is it that the neophyte should be not only protected but
that he himself should use all possible means to ensure for himself the
necessary duration of life to complete the process of mastering the phenomena
we call death! It may be said, why do not the higher adepts protect him?
Perhaps they do to some extent, but the child must learn to walk alone;
to make him independent of his own efforts in respect to safety, would be
destroying one element necessary to his development - the sense of
responsibility. What courage or conduct would be called for in a man sent to
fight when armed with irresistible weapons and clothed in impenetrable armour?
Hence the neophyte should endeavour, as far as possible, to fulfill every true
canon of sanitary law as laid down by modern scientists. Pure air, pure water, pure
food, gentle exercise, regular hours, pleasant occupations and surroundings,
are all, if not indispensable, at least serviceable to his progress. ("The Theosophist" April 1882, p. 171) 
One signed 1889 article does briefly note Blavatsky’s anti-vaccination support, ('the erection of an Institute for the inoculation of a virus, with its poisonous effects on future generations') ‘An open letter to the readers of “Lucifer”and all true theosophists’ ( Lucifer, Vol. V, No. 26, October, 1889, pp. 144-145; Blavatsky, Collected Writings, Vol. 11, p. 455); and rightly so, in my view, as
vaccination science was rather primitive by today’s standards, so the
anti-vaccination movement was useful and helpful in getting the thorough
testing procedures and safety checks that we have today. She was more supportive of Homeopathy, see, The Bugbears of Science, A kind of alternative science piece that discusses Hypnotism, Mesmerism, and Homeopathy and the differences between materialism and skepticism. (The Theosophist, Vol. IV, No. 5,
February, 1883, pp. 105-108]; Blavatsky, Collected Writings, Vol. 4, p. 307) Governments
have often been big on heavy vaccination persuasion since vaccines were
discovered in 19th century. But they probably should not have been, because
testing and statistics were pretty sketchy. And there have been anti-vax
protesters since the beginning; rightly so, considering the primitive state of vaccinating at the time. There was a lot of trial and error, and truly comprehensive vaccination methods did not really get going until the 1950s. But then in 1955, there was a major mishap in the US, known as the Cutter incident,
where
one of the six polio vaccines had bad problems and caused many deaths, with a
massive public outcry, which caused campaign cancellations and some people who
experienced that are vaccine hesitant to this day.
This spurred progressive improvements where by the 1980s, testing became much more systematic and thorough, and statistical analysis
more sophisticated; then the big victories started to happen, with worldwide
elimination of Smallpox in the 1990s and the elimination of Polio by 2000, and similar success with Tetanus,
Rubella, and the Measles.
Vaccine skepticism continued, and has even caused a 10% drop in vaccinated
people in Great Britain (and the resurgence of some virus'), but they can't
really compete with the highly developed modern vaccination systems in terms of
giving researched proof-value to their arguments, although they can still play a useful watchdog role, since there is still room for improvements in the vaccination system. Hence, we've only really had safe, reliable
vaccination programs since the 1980s, for only about 40 years, but with some
victories that are some of the great achievements of modern medicine and
worldwide socio-political cooperation.
Also note what Godolphin Mitford wrote in 'The Elixir of Life': If this is so in the case of the high adept, how
much more necessary is it that the neophyte should be not only protected but
that he himself should use all possible means to ensure for himself the
necessary duration of life to complete the process of mastering the phenomena
we call death! It may be said, why do not the higher adepts protect him?
Perhaps they do to some extent, but the child must learn to walk alone;
to make him independent of his own efforts in respect to safety, would be
destroying one element necessary to his development - the sense of
responsibility. What courage or conduct would be called for in a man sent to
fight when armed with irresistible weapons and clothed in impenetrable armour?
Hence the neophyte should endeavour, as far as possible, to fulfill every true
canon of sanitary law as laid down by modern scientists. Pure air, pure water, pure
food, gentle exercise, regular hours, pleasant occupations and surroundings,
are all, if not indispensable, at least serviceable to his progress. ("The Theosophist" April 1882, p. 171)
Governments
have often been big on heavy vaccination persuasion since vaccines were
discovered in 19th century. But they probably should not have been, because
testing and statistics were pretty sketchy. And there have been anti-vax
protesters since the beginning; rightly so, considering the primitive state of vaccinating at the time. There was a lot of trial and error, and truly comprehensive vaccination methods did not really get going until the 1950s. But then in 1955, there was a major mishap in the US, known as the Cutter incident,
where
one of the six polio vaccines had bad problems and caused many deaths, with a
massive public outcry, which caused campaign cancellations and some people who
experienced that are vaccine hesitant to this day.
This spurred progressive improvements where by the 1980s, testing became much more systematic and thorough, and statistical analysis
more sophisticated; then the big victories started to happen, with worldwide
elimination of Smallpox in the 1990s and the elimination of Polio by 2000, and similar success with Tetanus,
Rubella, and the Measles.
Vaccine skepticism continued, and has even caused a 10% drop in vaccinated
people in Great Britain (and the resurgence of some virus'), but they can't
really compete with the highly developed modern vaccination systems in terms of
giving researched proof-value to their arguments, although they can still play a useful watchdog role, since there is still room for improvements in the vaccination system. Hence, we've only really had safe, reliable
vaccination programs since the 1980s, for only about 40 years, but with some
victories that are some of the great achievements of modern medicine and
worldwide socio-political cooperation.
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