Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #WilliamShippenJr
Most recents (1)
"Finding the #smallpox to be spreading much and fearing that no precaution can prevent it from running through the whole of our Army...", General #GeorgeWashington instituted the first mandatory widespread #inoculation order in #militaryhistory on Feb 6 1777. #COVID19 #vaccines 
2. GW recognized the risks especially that inoculation, unlike vaccines, led to the contraction of a "less" virulent case. "This Expedient may be attended with some inconveniences and some disadvantages, but yet I trust in its consequences will have the most happy effects."
3. But for GW it was a military necessity and an order that was needed to be given to save the army, the Revolution, and the nation.
