Days of No Immunity

Mandatory Smallpox Vaccination leads to a massive protest in a 19th century English city

Soundcloud link:

This is a pre-plandemic song I wrote in 2017 about the smallpox vaccine.  Many people are unaware there was a large protest against mandatory smallpox vaccination in the city of Leicester, England in 1885.

The story covers the anguish of parents who lose a child after forced vaccination.  The subsequent protest in Leicester leads to a change in the laws in that city coupled with the new movement in public sanitation at that time.

To confess sticklers may be disappointed in my use of a clear anachronism—the reference to “now you’ll take a needle and stick it in your arm.”  If you look at the cover image you will see that the woman does not receive the “cowpox” through the way vaccination is done today. 

Before the invention of the hypodermic syringe, the method commonly used for smallpox vaccination was known as arm-to-arm vaccination or "variolation." This technique was practiced prior to the development of a formal vaccine for smallpox.

The practice of variolation involved taking material from an active smallpox sore or scab and transferring it to a healthy individual through a small scratch or incision in their skin.

Lyrics:

DAYS OF NO IMMUNITY

A packet ship was steaming
‘cross a sullen sea
A pestilence was raging
No one held the key
The pox was now upon us
But no one could agree
An unhappy story--from the 19th century

A mountebank was scheming
He had an awful plan
An ordinary surgeon
Proclaimed throughout the land
His cure was just a pinprick
Not much of a demand
“Lifelong protection”
Through a sleight of hand

Chorus:
Days of no immunity--you’ll get
When all is said and done and the sun has set
Days of no immunity--you’ll find
Fear defeats the skeptic’s open mind

Now you’ll take a needle
And stick it in your arm
A mild dose of cowpox
They say it does no harm
Inoculate just one time
It works just like a charm
My lover has a fever
No need to spread alarm

That mild dose of cowpox
Fluttered through her veins
Throughout the deadly summer
She endured such mortal pain
And though the storm had lifted
Her countenance was drained
The surgeon’s mighty cure
Did it work as he had claimed?

Days of no immunity—you’ll pray
Do whatever the physicians say
Days of no immunity—you’ll hope
You have just gone down one slippery slope

Segue: The packet ship was standing in the bay
The guests arrived on board on our wedding day
Three years had passed without a hint of fun
Will the pox now take our sickly son?

The authorities were hardened
“we’ll take you without fail”…
Your son needs his treatment
Or else you’ll go to jail
We tried so hard to stop them
But to no avail
The mother of my son
Throughout our home she wailed

You claim the cure effective
Restore the child’s health
I say it is just poison
Worse then the pox itself
What right have you to come here,
Demand to intervene?
Not another fever
From your damned vaccine

Days of no immunity—so grim
Our little birthday boy—they injected him
Days of no immunity—can’t save
Our precious son they laid him in his grave

Bridge:
Where had all the time gone, we grew old
The patch we hit was rough
But the younger generation
They held firm
Declared we've have had enough

In 1885, we were 80,000 strong
In the town of Leicester, such a mighty throng
Arm in arm we marched against
The power of the state
Who were they tell us,
You must vaccinate!

Now the streets were languid
A cesspool oozing green
The lack of sanitation was decidedly obscene
The multitudes were praying
Make our water clean
And those who were infected
Were quickly quarantined

Chorus: Instrumental

Segue: Now the other towns did vaccinate
More disease was their sorry fate
Leicester’s numbers were a bitter pill
In a cleaner city, few fell ill

Claiming victory, the vaccinators feigned
There is only one cure
We’ll start a new campaign
All was soon forgotten the vaccinations grew
Claiming all the credit, where credit wasn’t due

Chorus: Days of no immunity are here
When you give into your most basic fears
Days of no immunity you'll smirk
When you find out, their cure will never work

Segue: Another day, another child sick
Another arm requested, they must prick
Healthy living is what you’ll pursue
Then just don’t get stuck with the witch’s brew