America’s First Vaccinators

Department of History, World Languages, and Cultures faculty member Andrew Wehrman discussed the origins of vaccination and how it was implemented in the United States as the keynote speaker for the Clarke Library Speaker Series Feb. 10 in the Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium.

Wehrman is author of the award-winning book The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). During his presentation, “America’s First Vaccinators,” he explained the difference between inoculation and vaccination and described the difficulties in transporting the vaccine around the country in the period after the Revolution.

Efforts were also hampered by doctors who wanted to make money off the vaccine and, therefore, did not want free public access. Wehrman argued that these are some of the reasons why the U.S. did not develop strong governmental vaccine programs until later in history, despite the initial success of smallpox inoculation during the Revolution.

Students, faculty and members of the community also attended a book signing and reception in the Clarke Historical Library following the presentation.

Wehrman began teaching at CMU in 2015. His research focuses on popular politics and the politics of medicine in early America. He has appeared on C-SPAN, NPR and in the Boston Globe and Washington Post.