How does Peter McCullough explain vaccination becoming like a religion?

Peter McCullough, citing his book with historian John Leake, traces it to Cotton Mather, the Puritan minister who promoted smallpox variolation in Boston in 1721 and declared it a gift from God. He argues that fear of contagion, money and the idea of man improving on creation have given vaccination a religious zeal for three centuries. He points to a 2022 Vatican 20-euro coin showing a boy receiving a vaccine in the pose of communion.

McCullough said Ben Franklin mocked variolation until his son Frankie died of smallpox.
McCullough said the English city of Leicester controlled smallpox by isolating sick children rather than vaccinating.
McCullough credits sanitation, nutrition, hygiene and antibiotics for most declines in infectious disease.

▸In their words

“That's how vaccination started. It was conceptualized as a gift from God” Peter McCullough · at 38:12 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Joe Rogan Experience (2026-11-04). Read the whole episode summary →

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