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dobryden22 t1_iwvap2j wrote

Reply to comment by Standard_Gauge in As measles outbreak sickens dozens of children in Ohio, local health officials seek help from CDC | CNN by Surly_Cynic

Its our curse as humans to learn the same lessons over and over and over again.

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VaIeth t1_iwvhjpo wrote

We are the only era to show our stupidity like this aren't we? Before people didn't get to take the vaccine cause it didn't exist.

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Imaginary_Medium t1_iwvma5j wrote

I think people were a little smarter about vaccines when polio vaccine became available. t was a big deal to my parents that we had miraculous vaccines in these modern times thanks to science, to protect kids. That seemed to be the attitude.

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Standard_Gauge t1_iwvr5ay wrote

> I think people were a little smarter about vaccines when polio vaccine became available.

The important thing is that everyone at that time knew someone who had complications from polio, some mild, some severe. This made them eager to line up for the vaccine when it became available. My uncle had a lifelong limp from polio, and considered himself lucky that it was just a limp and he lived a pretty much normal life. Same with Mitch McConnell, and forgetting whatever you think of his politics, is a polio survivor with some lifelong consequences (frequently falls on stairs, e.g.) and has never been an anti-vaxxer.

People today often don't know anyone who has had serious aftereffects from preventable diseases. Measles is a case in point. I am in my 60's and had measles as a young child way before there was a vaccine. Almost every child had measles at some point. I can still remember the high fever and I remember my eyes hurting a lot (might have had swelling or something) and my mom putting cold wet cloths over my eyes. As an adult I realized how lucky I was that that was the worst of it. My mom told me that one child in the neighborhood died from encephalitis caused by the measles.

The anti-vaxxers are giddy in their ignorance, and actually believe measles is a nothingburger that every child sails through in a few days. They bizarrely believe that the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease. I wish they would stop reading nonsense from weird woo sources and read some facts, such as measles having been a major cause of deafness in my day.

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Imaginary_Medium t1_iwvux88 wrote

You and I are probably fairly close in age. You are surely right about people today not having personal memories of the devastation caused by some of these diseases in the past, though they seem to have a bit of a short term memory problem when it comes to Covid. Maybe they are the ones who didn't have their lives turned upside down by the loss of a family member, or were in denial.

I worry about these anti-vaxxers, there seem to be so many, and measles is indeed not to be trifled with. Do you think our society will ever regain its respect for real science at some point? I don't expect to live to see it, but I hope it happens.

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Standard_Gauge t1_iwvwcxj wrote

> Do you think our society will ever regain its respect for real science at some point? I don't expect to live to see it, but I hope it happens

One manifestation of the "civil war" that folks allude to is a huge divide between critical thinkers and science-educated vs. magical thinking, "I saw it on YouTube so it must be true" types. Unfortunately the science deniers can do far more damage to the critical thinkers than vice versa.

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Imaginary_Medium t1_iwvz0se wrote

And they certainly are doing damage. I personally enjoy the internet, but my god, there is so much garbage out there, and it spreads. I wish knowledge would, but people seem to find it less entertaining.

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JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_iwwbe26 wrote

A West African born slave named Onesimus taught the practice of inoculation to his ignorant Boston owner in the 1720s when epidemics regularly swept through the colonies killing scores(this form of inoculation was the precursor to vaccines and works on similar principles).

When his owner tried to promote the practice he was met with vitriol, getting a brick thrown through his window and having papers like the New England Courant basically read like Fox News irrationally frothing at the mouth at the whole idea. By the end of the outbreak the 280 inoculated members of Boston suffered 6 deaths(2.2%) whereas 850 of 5900 non-inoculated patients died(14%)

Half a century later General George Washington unilaterally ordered the inoculation of his troops without seeking permission in part because there was still a significant contingent of the Continental Congress against the practice, with some colonies still outlawing it. He wanted to keep the operation secret from the British, but he also didn’t want to deal with clowns in Philadelphia getting dumb about it.

Unfortunately history suggests we are just this stupid as a species. Even hundreds of years ago it was still the same story

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LaLionneEcossaise t1_iwwimwd wrote

A former coworker didn’t want her child to get the polio series because “no one gets polio!” I tried explaining that the reason so few people get polio is because the vaccine prevents it, but she was certain her “facts” were correct.

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JohnnyUtah_QB1 t1_iwx9u0d wrote

It’s so bizarre. Humans have been successfully using “injections” to protect against disease for at least a thousand years,(back then it was live virus and human pus, today it’s highly refined and engineered nanomachines)

Like these people exist in a different reality, just total ignorance of all their own ancestors learned, destined to repeat the same obvious mistakes.

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jschubart t1_iww1p4u wrote

No. People fought against the small pox vaccine too.

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financequestionsacct t1_iww3gdx wrote

It's unnatural. Nature intended for children to get disfiguring cow pox and that's why I expose my children to infected cattle instead of that toxic poison, like God intended. /s

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