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In 1736 Benjamin Franklin's son died of smallpox before Franklin could get him inoculated.
He had to publish a letter then to tamp down rumors that his son had died *from* the inoculation. Toward the end of his life he said he'd "long regretted bitterly" not inoculating his son.
Link to tweet
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Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography said:
“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2653186/
“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.”1
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2653186/
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