HEALTH DEPARTMENT FALSEHOODS As a lifelong student of this subject I have become convinced that the whole cult and practice of general public vaccination and particularly all compulsory vaccination, like all great intrenched evils, has originated in falsehood, has continued in falsehood, and now exists on both falsehood and concealment, viz.: falsehood as to its absolute efficiency and certainty in protecting the individual against smallpox; falsehood as to the necessity of general vaccination to prevent smallpox epidemics; and gross falsehood as to its perfect safety and freedom from danger to human health and life. Now, I do not think that I have ever seen a grosser illustration of the truth of this charge than can be found in the special article on Vaccination published in the _Monthly Bulletin_ or _Health News_ for February, 1914, issued by the New York State Department of Health at Albany, which contains what I believe to be shocking falsehoods, fallacies, and exaggerations which even a tyro in the investigation of this subject could easily refute, as I will now show. All these fallacies have been issued with an air of gospel truth, to instruct the public, and to try to justify the extreme efforts of our department officers and medical doctors to force compulsory vaccination on every child and adult in this State as not only absolutely necessary for public health, but as the only known means to prevent smallpox epidemics, and as being an operation which is wholly beneficial and entirely safe and harmless to human health and life. I shall now give examples of the chief and worst of these medical falsehoods and follow with their refutation, as a duty clearly due to public truth and right. FIRST FALSEHOOD: This official Bulletin at page 48 tells us concerning the alleged efficiency and necessity of vaccination as follows: “Nothing but vaccination can save from smallpox.... Cleanliness and general sanitation exert absolutely no influence upon its prevalence.” This is about as shocking, absurd and false as it can be, and coming from our highest State health officer is certainly not creditable to our public health service, but is so obviously absurd and untenable as to refute itself on its very face. This paragraph tells us, in effect, that dense human overcrowding, with personal and public filth spread everywhere, no sanitation or isolation anywhere, and every case of smallpox left loose and at large to spread by direct contact to every child and adult and thus infect every one right and left, as in the old unsanitary times of big and frequent epidemics--all this, our Health Commissioner coolly tells us, would not make a bit of difference in the spread of the disease! And, per contra, the prevention of all these vile unsanitary conditions of barbarous times, with or without vaccination, would have no effect whatever to reduce the disease!