Vaccination Practices in Ottoman Schools

From Our History of Vaccination and Contagious DiseasesThe primary target of compulsory smallpox vaccination in the Ottoman Empire was children.As a matter of fact, the official announcement about the vaccine published in Takvîm-i Vekāyi dated March 21, 1847 begins with the statement that the vaccine protects children from smallpox, and for this reason, a fatwa was issued in accordance with Sharia.Subsequently, within the scope of the practice of free vaccination, various locations in İstanbul were identified and physicians and officers were appointed by Mekteb-i Tıbbiye, and while the state made all-out efforts, the fact that the disease was still effective was attributed to parents not paying enough attention.For this reason, it was announced that it was now decided that children who went to school and had not yet developed smallpox and had not been vaccinated would be vaccinated by appointing a physician, those who did not go to school would be vaccinated in vaccination shops in their neighborhoods, and the births of not only boys but also girls would be reported to the official authorities by imams and mukhtars (1). 1