The Founding Fathers - and our current "emergency"

If pigs could fly would we still eat bacon?
The question of the OP is no less unknown.
Here's an article about the first pandemic in the US under Washington's Presidency. It looks like Washington simply tucked tail and ran.
America's Devastating First Plague and the Birth of Epidemiology

 

good question.

there is some timeline controversy on this small pox vaccine. Perhaps the CDC uses a later stage of development in it's declaration of 1797 being the beginning of the small pox vaccine, when clearly the order to inoculate all the Continental Army troops predated THAT ...

However, the order didn't predate 1/2 a century of the crude form of a modified live virus vaccine sourced by the pus of cowpox in kids. Docs were literally extracting the pus from the pustules on children and injecting that into adults.

So the first difference is 50 years' use of this inoculation. Clearly that's a longer period of time than any mRNA vaccine; even our veterinarians who have sought to develop starting at the turn of the millennium. (none successful, by the way)

A second difference is the disease itself. smallpox had a 30% mortality rate. CV19 ... <1% overall.

A third difference is ... the order was for the military personnel only ...who were fighting the Revolutionary War. This proposed mandate by POTUS 2021 doesn't exempt the civilian population ... and nor are we actively engaged in combat operations for the creation/defense of our nation.

there may be more differences, but consider this is sufficient to avoid further comparison of that event to our current event.

 

watch this and tell me pigs don't fly

 

Classic!!!!
This creature is so ugly - it’s beautiful!!
Love to see them in action.