George Washington won the Revolutionary War not just by outsmarting and defeating the British Army. He also won it by successfully vanquishing what he referred to as another “most dangerous enemy”: smallpox. And he did it by embracing science rather than by succumbing to fear. In the winter of 1777, Washington decided to inoculate his troops against smallpox, despite the prevailing belief at the time among delegates to the Continental Congress and some of his own military doctors that doing so would lead to more, not fewer, deaths. Washington’s decision turned out to be the right one. Not only did it save many lives, it also helped alter the course of the Revolutionary War.
https://www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2016/07/how-vaccinations-helped-win-revolutionary-war
