Many people are pointing out that George Washington ordered the first mass vaccination of troops. It was also announced that COVID vaccinations will be mandatory for the U.S. military.

On Monday, the Pentagon revealed plans to make the vaccine mandatory for the army by mid September. This was approved by President Joe Biden.

Biden released a statement citing Covid jab as an example of the vaccine that would be included in the “list of required vaccinations for our military personnel not later than September,” AP reported.

Biden said, “Being vaccinated will allow our service members stay healthy, better protect their families and ensure that our force can operate anywhere in this world.”

The vaccines have been the subject of much debate. Critics point to safety and freedoms as reasons for concern. Statistics show that the majority of cases in new cases are not among those who have been vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle P. Walensky claimed America was facing “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” with outbreaks among “parts of the country where we’re seeing low vaccination coverage.”

The new highly-transmissible Delta variant is now responsible for 59 per cent of new COVID cases in the nation, WebMD said, quoting CDC figures.

A CDC internal document was shared on the Washington Post. It stated that the Delta strain is more transmissible then: MERS & Ebola, Ebola and Common cold, Seasonal influenza & 1918 (“Spanish”) Flu, Smallpox.

Washington, as Commander in Chief of Continental Army, issued the order to the Continentals because of smallpox.

The variola virus caused smallpox and killed three of ten victims. It was brought to America by the Spanish in 17th century.

Washington contracted the virus while traveling to Barbados in 1751, website mountvernon.org explained. He was just a teenager at the time.

Washington was just nineteen years old when the disease struck. He suffered only minor scarring. Washington was however protected from future smallpox attacks, although the effects of this vaccination would not be apparent for many years.” The site stated.

The disease was rampant among troops, as the Library of Congress (LOC) noted: “Among the Continental regulars in the American Revolution, 90 per cent of deaths were caused by disease, and Variola the small pox virus was the most vicious of them all.”

Inoculation was a method of being infected with a less severe form of the disease. This included inoculating for several weeks and then quarantining while infected.

Although it could have been detrimental for the war effort to have troops in such a state, Washington acknowledged the urgent need to roll out the program among soldiers.

Washington, in a January 6, 1777 letter to Dr. William Shippen Jr., ordered the “unpopular” vaccination of all troops passing through Philadelphia as well as new recruits.

One excerpt read: “Necessity does not just authorize, but seems to require the measure. For should the disorder infect the Army…we should have more to fear from it, than the Sword of the Enemy.”

On February 5, 2005, he wrote to Congress informing them about the plan. The operation was carried out by his commanding officers over the following weeks.

The LOC stated that there were concerns about the practice. “Conversely,” the LOC explained, “The history of inoculation (beginning with Reverend Cotton Mather’s efforts in 1720) in America was marred by the fear of contamination. In 1776, the Continental Congress issued a proclamation prohibiting Surgeons of the Army from inoculating.

It was nevertheless a huge success as the LOC stated that isolated pox outbreaks among Continental troops “failed” to incapacitate any one regiment.

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They added that Washington performed the first mass vaccination of an army with few doctors, few medical supplies and no experience at the height of a war which had immeasurably changed the international system.

The former president’s campaign was highlighted after politician Josh Mandel, who declared he’s running in the U.S. Senate state election in Ohio, shared a Tweet on August 9.

Ohio’s former treasurer stated that the Founders would have “tarred and feathered” Dr. Fauci. This was referring to Dr Anthony S. Fauci Chief Medical Advisor to President.