THE ACTIVITIES OF CITY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS FOR THE PREVENTION OF SMALLPOX EPIDEMICS IN THE LATE XIX - EARLY XX CENTURIES(BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF THE KOSTROMA AND YAROSLAVL PROVINCES)
In view of the emergence of a new coronavirus infection Covid-19 in 2019, the experience of typical Russian provinces in combating epidemics at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century is of interest. The authors, based on a study of the annual reports of the governors and the reports of the Medical Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, collected data on the main areas of activity of city public administrations for the prevention and control of one of the most common epidemic diseases of the 19th century-smallpox. The disease was widespread in the Kostroma and Yaroslavl provinces and periodically affected thepopulation of the provincial centers. One of the main methods of preventing the disease was preventive vaccination, but it was difficult due to the large number of schismatics living in the provinces. The effectiveness of the preventive measures carried out depended not only on the active position of the provincial and city authorities, decisions were required by issues of national importance, in particular, the adoption of a document on compulsory smallpox vaccination and the establishment of common approaches to solving epidemiological problems.