Over 200 years ago, vaccination began saving lives.
Edward Jenner, at the end of the 18th century, demonstrated that vaccination with cowpox would prevent smallpox from occurring in people who got his new vaccine. As the 19th century began, vaccination of the general population began. As today, many people refused to be vaccinated. Long treatises were written about the evils of vaccination. People formed anti-vaccination groups and fought against vaccination. Backed by science, those who knew what smallpox vaccination could accomplish kept pushing for universal vaccination.
Just over 200 years later, smallpox was eradicated as a disease of humans. Universal vaccination finally became the law and the objections of those who mistrusted science were overcome. 200 years, and the deadly disease no longer existed. Vaccination won. The smallpox vaccine is no longer needed, and the tell-tale vaccination scar is not on the arms of today's children.
In the 1950s, I remember losing childhood friends to polio. Others caught the disease and recovered. I was once rushed to the hospital when I got some stomach virus. I didn't have polio, but the fear of that deadly disease was so strong that emergency rooms saw all sorts of children with the early symptoms. Fortunately Jonas Salk and his team introduced a working vaccine for polio in the 50s, and we all stood in line to get our polio shots. There were some early problems with the polio vaccine, and some bad side effects, but the disease was so horrible that vaccination went on.
Some people fought against polio vaccination, too, but cases began to diminish as more and more children were vaccinated in free clinics and at their schools. Vaccination was made mandatory. Now, more than 60 years later, we're close to eradicating polio, too. International vaccination drives and dedicated NGOs have made that their goal, and we get closer every year. Someday we'll be able to stop vaccinating children against polio, just like we stopped vaccinating against smallpox. There will no longer be a need for the polio vaccine, because science prevailed and eliminated another deadly disease.
Diphtheria used to kill countless children, too. For those of us who are baby boomers, our grandparents told us stories of brothers, sisters and cousins who died of diphtheria. Today, due to universal vaccination, only one or two cases show up in the United States each year, mostly among recent immigrants from countries where diphtheria vaccination is not universal. That's another battle that is being won by science, and diphtheria is another deadly childhood illness that is on its way toward eradication.
Three childhood diseases that once took the lives of children are now now longer much of a threat or are no threat at all today, thanks to universal vaccination. And yet, we still have ignorant people fighting against vaccination against childhood diseases. Some of the arguments used are the same ones used back in Jenner's day. Religious arguments. Political arguments. Stupid arguments. Arguments made out of sometimes deliberate ignorance.
Science will eventually win and most of those diseases will be defeated. But it will take longer than it should. First, it took 200 years for smallpox to disappear. Polio is almost gone in less than 100 years. Diphtheria is so rare that 99% of physicians would not recognize it if they ever saw a case.
It's time to stop fighting the science that saves lives of our youngest people. It's time to understand the importance of eliminating the childhood illnesses that have killed so many. It's time to stop being ignorant and to stop fighting against measures that save lives.
Vaccination works. Vaccination saves lives.
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