Have Vaccines Ever Been Mandated in History? Biden COVID Shot Plans Could Affect 100m People

In order to tackle the spread of COVID in the U.S., President Joe Biden made a U-turn on mandatory vaccination on Thursday when he announced that all federal employees must be vaccinated over the coming months or their jobs may be at risk.

The mandate could potentially affect up to 100 million Americans. Employers with more than 100 employees must ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly, while federal contractors must be vaccinated. The move reflects measures employed in California and New York.

The U.S. is no stranger to protecting the health of Americans through mandatory vaccination. In 1901, the target of vaccination wasn't COVID but smallpox. The highly contagious virus, estimated to have killed 300 million people in the 20th century, caused fevers and a severe rash on the arms and face that often left survivors scarred for life.

At the turn of the 20th Century, three out of 10 people that contracted smallpox died as a result of the virus. This mortality rate led to 270 deaths in Boston alone during an outbreak that lasted from 1901 to 1903.