A couple of years ago, responding to a Quora question about vaccination, I described the heartrending story my high school English teacher had told me about her family (I was in the class of 1964). Within days of her birth in 1893, she said, several of her siblings died of diphtheria, along with a neighbor girl who'd come to help care for them in their rural Utah town.
She and her mother, who'd isolated in a bedroom, survived. When they emerged, her father told her mother, "Our beloved son has survived!" He was holding the boy in his arms, believing that the child's limpness meant the fever had passed. But the boy was dead.
After burying the children, the father went into town, saw a headline something like, "Diphtheria toxin-anti-toxin discovered by Emil von Behring!", realized that this tragedy might soon be preventable, and soon had a stroke. He survived but was never well again.
Most people commented favorably on my answer. But a few insisted that the only protection kids need from diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and of course COVID, is unprocessed food, plenty of exercise outdoors, the "freedom" to avoid "dangerous vaccines," and chances to ramp up their immune system by catching these illnesses.
I reminded them that these rural kids in 1893 had played outside a lot, didn't eat fast food, weren't vaccinated, and they *died* of diphtheria. But anti-vax folks appear to be impermeable to even the most basic logic.
One even accused me of making up the story. I'm pretty sure it's in Margaret Lee Chadwick's memoir, "The Lee Family Of Spanish Fork, Utah." But the copy she gave me many years ago sadly got lost when we downsized.
This is a pervasive false belief— I just had a retired NIH immunologist “explain” with absolute certainty that her current viral illness was more severe due to “ immunity debt.” Thank you for this post— a puppy and a vaccine— wonderful!
Thank you for again stating the obvious. I remember polio. I can’t imagine wanting to return to a time when children faced death from preventable diseases.
My very first experience as a beginning medical student interviewing a patient was in 1975. I took a medical history from a woman living in a Masonic retirement home. She was born in Lithuania in the early 1890’s.
Her family had migrated and had moved to Philadelphia when she was about 10.
During the influenza pandemic she recalled that the entire family in the brownstone next to hers had died in one night. There weren’t enough coffins for the city. It was truly a nightmare.
This was eye opening. I knew in a vague sense that children died often, along with the knowledge that women died often in childbirth. But to see the specific data was startling. Thank you for sharing.
Walk through a cemetery in Boston, Ma. and read the inscriptions on the headstones. The short lifespans of children in colonial America is remarkable in a chilling way.
Huh, I hadn’t realized the “original” hygiene hypothesis included actually getting sick. Maybe because of the name, my recollection is that it was presented as a reason to let your kids play in dirt and not worry about bleaching all your surfaces or whatever.
There have been interesting historical scenarios where mild illness protected against more serious illness - dairy workers whose previous cowpox infection rendered them immune to smallpox is what ultimately led to vaccines as a concept, for example. But google cowpox sometime and tell me if you’d rather get that, or a shot. I’ll take the shot every time.
We got a puppy because of the host of benefits for kids who grow up with pets. I am not a dog person, but the puppy brings so much joy and love to my kids that he is worth it. At least now when he is barking his furry little head off and I am on my last nerve with this animal, I can remember that he also keeps us healthier. So, there's that.
Could you please do a post on and help us make sense of the recent Japanese study that identified a connection between the 3rd mRNA covid shot and cancer?
This is concerning, especially for those of us who have had 3 or more mRNA shots.
Bravo, I have brought this up numerous times. The only problem I have is that we have a false dichotomy that you either live or die. Let's not forget Post Acute Sequelae (PAS) that are long time or even permanent and can be quite disabling.
I like the information on the microbiome that shapes us, especially in the GI.
Last year I learned that Korean families don’t celebrate the birth of new babies as much as they do the first birthday. Special foods and ceremonies and clothing are all parts of the celebration. If the baby survived to a year-you celebrate.
Great post. My baby group had a few families who were anti-vax. I live in Seattle and was shocked at how uninformed they were about something so important. What they needed to read was this post!
A couple of years ago, responding to a Quora question about vaccination, I described the heartrending story my high school English teacher had told me about her family (I was in the class of 1964). Within days of her birth in 1893, she said, several of her siblings died of diphtheria, along with a neighbor girl who'd come to help care for them in their rural Utah town.
She and her mother, who'd isolated in a bedroom, survived. When they emerged, her father told her mother, "Our beloved son has survived!" He was holding the boy in his arms, believing that the child's limpness meant the fever had passed. But the boy was dead.
After burying the children, the father went into town, saw a headline something like, "Diphtheria toxin-anti-toxin discovered by Emil von Behring!", realized that this tragedy might soon be preventable, and soon had a stroke. He survived but was never well again.
Most people commented favorably on my answer. But a few insisted that the only protection kids need from diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and of course COVID, is unprocessed food, plenty of exercise outdoors, the "freedom" to avoid "dangerous vaccines," and chances to ramp up their immune system by catching these illnesses.
I reminded them that these rural kids in 1893 had played outside a lot, didn't eat fast food, weren't vaccinated, and they *died* of diphtheria. But anti-vax folks appear to be impermeable to even the most basic logic.
One even accused me of making up the story. I'm pretty sure it's in Margaret Lee Chadwick's memoir, "The Lee Family Of Spanish Fork, Utah." But the copy she gave me many years ago sadly got lost when we downsized.
This is a pervasive false belief— I just had a retired NIH immunologist “explain” with absolute certainty that her current viral illness was more severe due to “ immunity debt.” Thank you for this post— a puppy and a vaccine— wonderful!
Thank you for again stating the obvious. I remember polio. I can’t imagine wanting to return to a time when children faced death from preventable diseases.
Great review article.
My very first experience as a beginning medical student interviewing a patient was in 1975. I took a medical history from a woman living in a Masonic retirement home. She was born in Lithuania in the early 1890’s.
Her family had migrated and had moved to Philadelphia when she was about 10.
During the influenza pandemic she recalled that the entire family in the brownstone next to hers had died in one night. There weren’t enough coffins for the city. It was truly a nightmare.
People today have no idea.
This was eye opening. I knew in a vague sense that children died often, along with the knowledge that women died often in childbirth. But to see the specific data was startling. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for adding the new misinformation section! It’s powerful to see all of the data regarding childhood mortality from disease in one place.
Walk through a cemetery in Boston, Ma. and read the inscriptions on the headstones. The short lifespans of children in colonial America is remarkable in a chilling way.
Excellent, data driven post.
These powerful facts are - astonishingly! - unknown to far too many of our fellow citizens.
This failure to understand basic history & basic health facts is both shameful & dangerous.
Thank you.
Excellent column! Wish we could get all the “vaccine hesitant” to read it.
Huh, I hadn’t realized the “original” hygiene hypothesis included actually getting sick. Maybe because of the name, my recollection is that it was presented as a reason to let your kids play in dirt and not worry about bleaching all your surfaces or whatever.
There have been interesting historical scenarios where mild illness protected against more serious illness - dairy workers whose previous cowpox infection rendered them immune to smallpox is what ultimately led to vaccines as a concept, for example. But google cowpox sometime and tell me if you’d rather get that, or a shot. I’ll take the shot every time.
We got a puppy because of the host of benefits for kids who grow up with pets. I am not a dog person, but the puppy brings so much joy and love to my kids that he is worth it. At least now when he is barking his furry little head off and I am on my last nerve with this animal, I can remember that he also keeps us healthier. So, there's that.
Could you please do a post on and help us make sense of the recent Japanese study that identified a connection between the 3rd mRNA covid shot and cancer?
This is concerning, especially for those of us who have had 3 or more mRNA shots.
More here:
https://www.cureus.com/articles/196275-increased-age-adjusted-cancer-mortality-after-the-third-mrna-lipid-nanoparticle-vaccine-dose-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-japan#!/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onww2X-ecfg
Bravo, I have brought this up numerous times. The only problem I have is that we have a false dichotomy that you either live or die. Let's not forget Post Acute Sequelae (PAS) that are long time or even permanent and can be quite disabling.
I like the information on the microbiome that shapes us, especially in the GI.
The whole "kids need to get sick" thing is what happens when historical and scientific ignorance meet up and start breeding.
Last year I learned that Korean families don’t celebrate the birth of new babies as much as they do the first birthday. Special foods and ceremonies and clothing are all parts of the celebration. If the baby survived to a year-you celebrate.
Great post. My baby group had a few families who were anti-vax. I live in Seattle and was shocked at how uninformed they were about something so important. What they needed to read was this post!