[General vaccination in the 19th century. The relationship between the physician and the population as the background of smallpox vaccination in the Lucerne canton].

This summary describes the vaccination practices in a rural area in Switzerland in the 19th century. Using reports of the vaccinating physicians and records of the local authorities a differentiated picture of the interests and behaviors of the involved social groups was obtained. Efforts at compulsory vaccination were counteracted by a variety of factors like shortage of vaccine, opposition by the people on the grounds of interference with private lives and mistrust in modern medicine and academically trained physicians, and even reservation by the vaccinating physicians themselves. Nevertheless, the practice of vaccination became a significant factor in the general process of medicalization, thus improving the position of the medical profession and furthering the public health movement by strengthening the the bonds between medical knowledge and state power.