The resistance of the soldiers to these regular medical check-ups was mirrored in the larger society by the civilians' resistance to vaccination. What appears to have been a policy which intended their own benefit and well-being, vaccination was seen by peasants and city folk alike as yet another way of marking their children for conscription. The authorities appear to have made no effort to overcome their expected resistance by enlisting the support of the village shaykhs or the shaykhs of the quarters, for example. The villagers did everything possible to resist vaccinating their sons; they fled from the doctors, hid their sons, attacked the barber-vaccinators, bribed the local officials to leave their children unmarked, and forged vaccination certificates.

XREF: Mirrors the peasants' resistance to conscription (loc 471-472, 593) — vaccination was read through the same lens of state coercion and marking. QUESTION: Why did authorities decline to enlist shaykhs' support to overcome vaccination resistance, when shaykhs proved essential elsewhere? Builds on: "Peasants rebelled openly rather than submit to forced conscription."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1086