Aisen Danilovich Vasilev,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Institute for Humanitarian Research and North Indigenous Peoples Problems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Organization of Smallpox Vaccination in the Yakut Region (First Half of the 19th Century)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2024-3-11
For the first time in Russian historiography, the article, based on archival data newly introduced into scientific circulation, examines the organization of mass smallpox vaccination in the Yakut region in the first half of the 19th century. The author studies the first practices of vaccination in the northeastern periphery of the Russian Empire, highlights the functioning of local authorities involved in the distribution and control of the smallpox vaccination process, notes the role of the Yakut regional chief I.G. Kardashevsky in the establishment of the smallpox committee. The formation of a system of training medical students from among the local population, including Yakuts, for vaccination is described in detail, the pros and cons of this innovation are analyzed. It is concluded that the formation of this direction of social policy in the Yakut region has faced a number of problems, such as the population’s prejudices against smallpox vaccination, the lack of medical personnel, and the vastness of the region. The local administration engaged in propaganda among the population about the benefits of the vaccine, trained rural students to solve the staffing problem of the medical corps, stimulated their work, carried out quarantine measures, and improved the sanitary culture of the population. In general, despite the difficulties, during the period under review, the regional authorities managed to ensure the stable functioning of the vaccine prevention system among the population of the Yakutsk region and to counteract new epidemic outbreaks.
Publishing: 28/06/2024
The article has been received by the editor on 01/07/2023
How to cite: Vasilev A.D. Organization of Smallpox Vaccination in the Yakut Region (First Half of the 19th Century) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 3 (35), pp. 142–153. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-1-11.pdf]
The work was supported by the RSF within the framework of scientific research “The fight against epidemics in the Yakut Region in the 19th Century: The Formation of Social Policy on the Outskirts of Asian Russia”, project no. 24-28-20392.
Links: Issue 3 2024
Keywords: Siberia; Yakutsk region; smallpox epidemics; the formation of medicine; smallpox vaccination; smallpox committees; rural students