The Original Anti-Vaxxer

The Experiment

The Atlantic and WNYC Studios

Law, Wnyc, Documentary, American, Policy, State, Court, Congress, Government, History, Race, The, Joe, Society & Culture, Presidency, President, Biden, Racism, Supreme

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

This week, President Joe Biden rolled out a large-scale federal mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for two-thirds of the American workforce, impacting more than 100 million people across the public and private sectors. Some lawmakers have already called the mandate unconstitutional, and Arizona is the first state to sue to block it. This week on The Experiment: As the struggle between individual liberty and public safety rages, we revisit the story of the first Supreme Court battle over vaccines, waged more than 100 years ago. This episode of The Experiment originally ran on March 25, 2021. A transcript of this episode is available. Further reading: “Why Biden Bet It All on Mandates,” “Not Getting Vaccinated to Own Your Fellow Libs,” “‘Post-Vax COVID’ Is a New Disease” Be part of The Experiment. Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, or write to us at theexperiment@theatlantic.com. This episode was produced by Julia Longoria and Gabrielle Berbey, with editing by Katherine Wells. Fact-check by Will Gordon. Sound design by David Herman. Transcript by Caleb Codding. Music by Ob (“Wold”), Parish Council (“Leaving the TV on at Night,” “Museum Weather,” “P Lachaise”), Alecs Pierce (“Harbour Music, Parts I & II”), Laundry (“Lawn Feeling”), water feature (“richard iii (duke of gloucester)”), Keyboard (“Mu”), and naran ratan (“Forevertime Journeys”), provided by Tasty Morsels. Additional music by Dieterich Buxtehude (“Prelude and Fugue in D Major”), Johannes Brahms (“Quintet for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello in B Minor”), and Andrew Eric Halford and Aidan Mark Laverty (“Edge of a Dream”).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Robin. Hi, is this the Swedish Lutheran Church in Cambridge?
0:20.2	We haven't been that in a very long time, but yes, I'm the pastor of faith Lutheran
0:27.9	Church. How can I help you? Oh, okay. Thank you. I'm working on a story about pastor
0:35.7	Henning Jacobson. Yep, I'm sure this is about vaccination. Yes. A while ago, producer Gabrielle
0:42.8	Burbe called called a church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In search of the origin story of an argument
0:51.6	we're all having right now. President Joe Biden just announced that two-thirds of American
0:58.7	workers are going to be required by law to get the COVID vaccine. That's a hundred million
1:06.6	workers, including public and private sectors. Several governors and the chair of the Republican
1:12.7	National Committee are already calling this unconstitutional, and at least one state already sued.
1:19.3	We are poised for a big legal battle over vaccines. And this isn't the first time we've seen
1:28.7	something like this in our country. You might say the battle started in this church a hundred years ago.
1:38.3	Thank you for talking to me. This is like such a random call. No, no, no, no, I love this kind of stuff.
1:43.5	Where the current pastor picked up the phone. Are you in the church now?
1:47.5	No, yeah, this is our organist practicing. I just put on my mask. I'm not a very talented organist.
1:53.2	Here, listen.
2:00.0	How do I do hear that? Yeah.
2:06.3	The original pastor of this church was a guy named Henning Jacobson, who took a personal and
2:12.8	very public stand over vaccination in 1902. What are you seeing right now?
2:20.4	I see two portraits of Henning Jacobson leading against the wall.
2:25.2	He looks like a wild hair and a wild beard kind of. I think he was like kind of like a fire and
2:31.9	grimstone sort of preacher. He's dignified, I would say. dignified. Sort of asking, what are you going
2:42.0	to do with me? I'm like, I don't know, Henning. I don't know, man.
	...

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