24. The Nineteenth Century Anti-Vaxxer Movement
Eventually, the British Parliament legislated the Vaccination Act of 1853, which mandated the vaccination of all infants within three months of their birth (or four months if they were in an orphanage). Notice of the requirement was to be given to parents or guardians when a birth was registered, and certificates of vaccination were to be returned by doctors to the registrar of birth. In 1867, the age requirement was extended to fourteen, and penalties were added for parents who failed to vaccinate their children.
Immediate resistance erupted from many who objected to the shift from voluntary vaccination to mandatory, and they demanded the right to control their bodies and those of their children. The Anti Compulsory Vaccination League and the National Anti Vaccination League were formed. British anti-vaxxers took their act on the road and went international. A visit across the Pond to the United States by British vaccination opponent William Tebb triggered the foundation in 1879 of the Anti Vaccination Society of America to oppose compulsory smallpox vaccination.