In grade school about once a year the teacher would line my class up at the nurse’s office and a nurse would administer a TB vaccine. I do not recall whether or not they sent home permission slips ahead of time. It was given just below the skin and would blister up. When the polio vaccine was developed in the early 1950s parents lined up around the block to get their kids vaccinated, before it was even tested extensively on large populations. So scary was the thought of catching the polio virus that risking a barely tested vaccine that may work (or may give your kid polio) was worth the risk.
Throughout history contagious diseases have been a constant scourge. An estimated 137 million people are thought to have died from the bubonic plague from the 6th to the 17th Centuries. Malaria has been a stressor of humans since ancient times. Some histories blame malaria for the migration of humans out of Africa. Malaria may even have played a role in the fall of Rome. Scientists hope to have a malaria vaccine available in the next few years. By some accounts smallpox is the deadliest disease throughout history. It has been supposedly eradicated for decades due to vaccinations. Historians like Jared Diamond believe disease played a role in the rise of Western Civilization, while stalling other civilizations. Indeed, diseases like smallpox and influenza are what allowed the Spanish to conquer Mexico and Latin America.
For most of human history the most dangerous period of life was the years leading up to a child’s 5th birthday. When people say life expectancy in Medieval Europe was in your 30s that’s due to high child mortality. Up to one-third of children died before their 5th birthday, mostly of what we call childhood diseases. If you made it past childhood you stood a decent chance of making it into your 40s and 50s, but many didn’t.
The high rate of infant mortality has declined mostly due to childhood immunization. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) vaccination is among the top 10 public health achievements of the 20th Century. Here is the problem: many people have stopped getting vaccinated. According to the New York Times lagging vaccinations could lead to a polio resurgence.
Childhood vaccination rates have been dropping for decades. According to the New York Times:
Most people have forgotten the dangers of childhood diseases, said Dr. Alex Richter, a clinical immunologist at the University of Birmingham in Britain, where there are worrying upticks in measles and mumps.
Just a few decades ago, many children under the age of 5 died from infectious illnesses. Now children are more threatened by traffic accidents, drug overdoses and gun violence while disease has faded as a concern.
German measles, officially known as rubella, is dangerous for pregnant women and their unborn babies. Rubella syndrome is a lifelong affliction for people born with it. Rubella is rare today but could make a resurgence if children are not routinely vaccinated.
A 2015 study estimated that before widespread vaccination, measles may have accounted for as many as half of all infectious disease deaths in children. Even now, the consequences can be serious. About 40 percent of people infected last year were hospitalized, according to the C.D.C.
Some old diseases are already making a comeback.
There were more than 32,000 cases of whooping cough in 2024, the highest tally in a decade. In California alone, the disease struck 2,000 people between January and October last year.
More than 60 infants younger than 4 months were hospitalized in the state. One died.
Whooping cough, or pertussis, is just the most stark example of what happens when vaccination rates decline. But it is far from the only one.
Adults are also susceptible to many of the resurgent childhood diseases. Most were vaccinated decades ago, and their immunity has waned over time. Yet another outcome of Covid was parents are not getting their kids vaccinated against many of the childhood disease that has long been standard. Vaccine skepticism does not help either. Many parents depend on others to ensure heard immunity, so their kids don’t have to be vaccinated. It doesn’t always work that way. They forget that communicable diseases were a primary cause of death throughout human history.
For more information see:
Nothing whatever here about the other side of the story, why vaccine skepticism has increased, and how that can be addressed. A few factors among many, many others: When Congress eliminated liability for vaccines on the childhood schedule, the childhood schedule expanded to include vaccines clearly unsuitable for children eg covid. The increase in shots led to giving them in close proximity. They were also combined ( eg. MMR includes rubella), thereby increasing their risk. Safety studies have been neglected. With no liability, no effort has been made to replace potentially risky adjuvants such as aluminum, which is highly toxic when introduced in a way that bypasses the liver. No effort has been made to determine if some children are at greater risk from adjuvants than others. Mandates have been severely enforced. Politicians who speak of a woman’s right to decide about her own body are not concerned with vaccine choice. Doctors have also been disciplined by boards for asking questions. These are all legitimate issues. Raising them does not make anyone “anti-vax.”