2019: A Plague Odyssey

It should be a no-brainer that vaccines exist entirely to save mankind from the unspeakable horrors such as the Bubonic Plague or Black Death from ever rising again.

Yet, this is not the case and in the year we were supposed to have flying cars and have conquered Mars, one singular question perplexes billions: “Why do some individuals deny decades of medical progress and state that vaccines are toxic (and make the frogs gay)?”

To challenge this irrational and actively harmful thought process, it is best to understand from where this misinformation was first propagated.

When Edward Jenner first introduced the practice of inoculation (essentially it is just vaccination), many were quick to understand its benefits and spread through North America and England in hopes of saving the lives of thousands. However, religious sentiments were hurt arbitrarily, and invariably, religious opposition against vaccination advanced.

Although some clergymen such as Reverend Robert Ferryman and Rowland Hill not only preached in favor of vaccination, but practiced it themselves, it was not enough to quell the attitudes of preachers and theologians, many of whom were very influential and had the support of local doctors or, in some cases, the support of a Fellow of the Royal Society. Theologian Reverend Edmund Massey argued that diseases are sent by God to punish sin and that any attempt to prevent smallpox via inoculation is a “diabolical operation”.

It was common to hear arguments such as these, and this hurt public reception of vaccination or immunology from its very inception.

As time progressed, several isolated incidents and tragedies caused in part due to ignorance and due to unethical practices, the anti-vaccination movement was strengthened. However, there are several explanations to these incidents that shed light on the fault being human error, not vaccines.

The use of horse serum to cure small pox and diphtheria disgusted millions and caused them to irrationally abandon vaccines. Perhaps the most famous incident of vaccine failure was the Cutter Incident, when Cutter Laboratories made a failed vaccine to cure polio. Nearly 40,000 children developed abortive polio, 56 developed paralytic polio and 5 even died.

This caused mass hysteria in the U.S. and many were quick to accuse vaccines as being the Devil’s creation. The incident was shameful for NIH Laboratory of Biologics (L. o. B.) to say the least. However, scientists immediately pointed out that the L. o. B. was to fault because they refused to acknowledge problems in attenuation (“killing/weakening”) of the polio disease.

These isolated incidents are the ammunition of “anti-vaxxers” and their vehement hatred of vaccines have caused epidemics of rubella, and the re-emergence of old threats like mumps.

Personal anecdotes also are a common trait for anti-vaxxers. This usually happens because a heart-aching and appalling incident happens to parents of children such as malpractice, which causes the child to die. Grieving parents are then preyed upon by disgusting individuals or scam companies with no other goal than furthering their agenda or striking up a profit (such as the livingspringwater llc and alkalinewaterco which really should be sued). These grieving parents are then indoctrinated into a dangerous and life-ending lifestyle with harmful repercussions for everyone.

The use of WhatsApp and other social media websites have only furthered the agendas of these depraved people and trends of drinking raw water, and not vaccinating themselves or children “to fight big Pharma” have only risen in popularity (in regions of all kinds like California and Uttar Pradesh).

“Scientists” like Andrew Wakefield have been spouting libel to trick millions for no reason and it appears to be working. It has been reported that in India and Germany, thousands of anti-vaxxers are being born due to both religion and pseudoscience.

This saddening tale informs us of truths that we already know: (1) Scientists and biologists really don’t know how to communicate to the public and (2) Dangerous individuals are never held to a standard due to the difficulty of enforcing laws on these individuals.

While all of this may seem rather frightening, there are several sure fire ways you can help protect the lives of people Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman, who had all four limbs partially amputated aged seven months due to getting a disease and lacking the herd immunity (it means exactly what it sounds like, resistance to disease because a high proportion of individuals are immune to the disease).

First of all, it is important to understand how to communicate to anti-vaxxers and remember that they are probably emotionally confused and hurt people. They need to be treated with calm respect and have their views challenged respectfully and in an interesting manner so that they do not feel even more hurt. Kill them with kindness, not euthanasia. Individuals like Daryl Davis have proven to us time and time again that treating people with kindness and dignity can help change their ways.

Secondly, individuals who spout libel about vaccines knowingly with the intent of scamming millions (companies like the livingspringwater llc) need to be struck down upon harder. We need to inform our governments about swindlers like these and provide proof to law enforcement agents to help them take down companies like these.

Many of us are currently too inactive against threats like anti-vaxxers and it is time that we rise up against misinformation and usher in an age of health and enlightenment.