Even in the days of smallpox some people objected to vaccinations.
Benjamin Franklin apparently “long regretted” his resolution not to inoculate his oldest son, who died of smallpox at age 4 in 1736.
But skepticism over the vaccine persevered, even into the early twentieth century when it was routinely required. By then, the virus had mutated to turn into much less extreme. Some argued the vaccine was now not essential and would create extra threat than it resolved. But vaccination necessities continued, and smallpox stays the one illness ever eradicated from earth.
