Only the vaccinated died: The macabre hoax of the 1918 Spanish flu
Did Saint’s Jacinta and Francesco receive a vaccine or two?
“In the terrible summer and autumn of 1918, with typhus and the pneumonic influenza raging on, a severe epidemic of smallpox added to the difficulties. The first cases were reported in May 1918 in the Algarve and by June 1918, the first cases appeared in Lisbon. Public health authorities increased their vaccination programmes, but schools …More
Did Saint’s Jacinta and Francesco receive a vaccine or two?
“In the terrible summer and autumn of 1918, with typhus and the pneumonic influenza raging on, a severe epidemic of smallpox added to the difficulties. The first cases were reported in May 1918 in the Algarve and by June 1918, the first cases appeared in Lisbon. Public health authorities increased their vaccination programmes, but schools were closing for the summer and the influenza seemed a more serious problem.
In October 1918, the smallpox epidemic in Lisbon was rampant. With public budgets stressed to the limit, public health authorities appealed to the help of private organizations and citizens. Medical students in their final year were allowed to vaccinate, many citizens and private societies established vaccination posts and many more volunteered to do administrative tasks. Public servants were not allowed to work without presenting proof of vaccination.
Between November 1918 and March 1919, Lisbon hospitals treated 1,763 smallpox patients with a mortality rate of 16 percent. Preventing smallpox continued to be a major public health problem throughout most of the 20th century.“ Disease and Public Health (Portugal) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)
“In the terrible summer and autumn of 1918, with typhus and the pneumonic influenza raging on, a severe epidemic of smallpox added to the difficulties. The first cases were reported in May 1918 in the Algarve and by June 1918, the first cases appeared in Lisbon. Public health authorities increased their vaccination programmes, but schools were closing for the summer and the influenza seemed a more serious problem.
In October 1918, the smallpox epidemic in Lisbon was rampant. With public budgets stressed to the limit, public health authorities appealed to the help of private organizations and citizens. Medical students in their final year were allowed to vaccinate, many citizens and private societies established vaccination posts and many more volunteered to do administrative tasks. Public servants were not allowed to work without presenting proof of vaccination.
Between November 1918 and March 1919, Lisbon hospitals treated 1,763 smallpox patients with a mortality rate of 16 percent. Preventing smallpox continued to be a major public health problem throughout most of the 20th century.“ Disease and Public Health (Portugal) | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)