Posted by:
summer
(
)
Date: June 16, 2018 07:26PM
The CDC weighs in --
"At the beginning of the 20th century, infectious diseases were widely prevalent in the United States and exacted an enormous toll on the population. For example, in 1900, 21,064 smallpox cases were reported, and 894 patients died. In 1920, 469,924 measles cases were reported, and 7575 patients died; 147,991 diphtheria cases were reported, and 13,170 patients died. In 1922, 107,473 pertussis cases were reported, and 5099 patients died."
That's nearly 27,000 dead from what are now four preventable diseases.
Regarding polio --
"Polio vaccine was licensed in the United States in 1955. During 1951-1954, an average of 16,316 paralytic polio cases and 1879 deaths from polio were reported each year. Polio incidence declined sharply following the introduction of vaccine to less than 1000 cases in 1962 and remained below 100 cases after that year. In 1994, every dollar spent to administer oral poliovirus vaccine saved $3.40 in direct medical costs and $2.74 in indirect societal costs."
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056803.htmMaybe those numbers are not meaningful unless you happened to have known someone wearing leg braces or sitting in a wheelchair. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio survivor, was wheelchair bound. This fact was often hidden from the U.S. population during his presidency, but he is shown sitting in a wheelchair at his memorial in Washington, D.C.
The summer before the first, live polio vaccine was introduced was particularly treacherous. Polio was striking widely. People were in iron lungs. My parents subsequently made the courageous decision to vaccinate my brother. I remember receiving liquid vaccines on sugar cubes at school in the early 60s. Polio wasn't playing, and our country treated it accordingly.
Smallpox (according to Wiki) --
"During the 18th century the disease killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year, including five reigning monarchs, and was responsible for a third of all blindness. Between 20 and 60% of all those infected—and over 80% of infected children—died from the disease.
During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths. In the early 1950s an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the global eradication of smallpox in December 1979."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_smallpoxThere is a *reason* that people took the time, trouble, and expense to invent and produce vaccines. The reason is that the alternative is far, far worse.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2018 07:27PM by summer.