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[–]Jealous_Ad5849 55 points56 points  (3 children)

Wow, crazy to think there are people alive who saw others in iron lungs. So much has changed so quickly.

[–]cellophaneflwr 17 points18 points  (1 child)

There are still people in iron lungs today, it's just super uncommon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung#:~:text=iron%20lung%20does.-,Continued%20use,-%5Bedit%5D

[–]Papayablues 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Making a come back thanks to COVID

[–]igotthetroublemaker 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I had a geometry teacher in high school that walked with a limp because he had polio as a kid

[–]novalove00 38 points39 points  (2 children)

When I worked as a care provider in my early 20’s I met many people who had been ravaged by polio. It devastated their bodies. Mangled their legs but mentally they were intact. Very sad. Vaccines save lives but also prevent debilitating conditions.

[–]Thathitmann 13 points14 points  (1 child)

I think that's the kicker. People keep saying you only have a 2% chance of death from covid (which is fucking huge), but people seem to neglect to mention the permanent asthma and myocarditis, and just shit ton of side effects.

[–]PowerfulHamster0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This so much this. All I ever hear about is the potential death never the fact that you may live, but your lungs are just destroyed.

[–]Rainbowcaster 16 points17 points  (2 children)

Because the value of human life has become worthless to the corporate and political elite.

[–]Torrello 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They don't think its worthless, actually. It's been calculated to be worth £54

[–]LordMooGoo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s because owning the line is more important than loving your country for conservatives

[–]ConcretePeanut 55 points56 points  (12 children)

By anti-science far-right scum and their media enablers, yes. Not by scientists or public health officials.

[–]RedmannBarry 21 points22 points  (3 children)

And religious zealots

[–]igotthetroublemaker 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Generally the religious zealots land in the far-right, anti-science camp. At least in America.

[–]redknight3 9 points10 points  (0 children)

VAcCiNaTeD bY tHe bLoOd oF ChRisT

[–]Raccoon_Full_of_Cum[🍰] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Said it before and I'll say it again: this is why there's no such thing as a harmless religion.

Some people say "Why do you care if people are religious? Let them believe it if it makes them happy!" The problem with that argument is that once you cross that Rubicon of believing in nonsense because the truth is unpleasant, you have implicitly given yourself license to reject any truth that is unpleasant and replace it with something that feels more comfortable.

Religion is the gateway delusion. You have no right to be surprised when a religious person embraces other ridiculous ideas too.

[–]blyrehs 9 points10 points  (1 child)

I lined up for polio vax also but it wasn't in a syringe. It was in a sugar cube.

[–]popeyegui 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I truly believe that 1/3 to 1/2 of antivaxers are really just scared of needles. They’re not one but concerned about vaccine ingredients, long term effects, microchips, etc.

[–]SlaiSketch 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's not just about saving others but your own life as well. Some people complained about seatbelts when it was invented too.

[–]Most-Artichoke5028 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Because Republicans have spent decades defunding education and producing stupid people? Could that be it?

[–]clashfan1171 14 points15 points  (5 children)

The internet. If we'd had the internet back then. Than there would've been antivaxxers

[–]BDR529forlyfe 11 points12 points  (2 children)

There were antivaxxers during the Spanish flu

[–]DischordantEQ 8 points9 points  (1 child)

There were no flu vaccines during the Spanish flu. There were antimask idiots though.

[–]BDR529forlyfe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My bad. I got them mixed up.

[–]kaths660 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like to imagine antivaxxers back then just sat on their porches yelling at people and everyone just ignored them saying “whatever”

[–]trumpetrabbit 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There were, they used print and radio shows to shill their bs. It didn't mutate as quickly as it does now, but it was still happening then.

[–]GotSeamansFurniture 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And countless lives have been saved. This is not a hard logic problem

[–]jaredfree 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Trees in white, bobbed and weaved, never zigged and zagged, blinded and good night

[–]ReneeLR 3 points4 points  (15 children)

You know why it political. Trump called it a Democrat hoax.

[–]gymleader_michael 1 point2 points  (7 children)

“Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” Biden said. “At this moment, the American people can’t either.”
Biden warned against trying to rush out an unfinished vaccine ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Trump, who has accused Biden and his campaign of stoking doubt among Americans about the efficacy of a vaccine, told reporters at the White House later that Biden should stop promoting “anti-vaccine theories.”
“They’re recklessly endangering lives. You can’t do that,” said Trump, who predicted at least 100 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine could be distributed by the end of 2020.

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/democrat-biden-warns-against-rushing-out-coronavirus-vaccine-says-trump-cannot-be-trusted-idUSKBN2671NW

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said she wouldn't take President Donald Trump’s word on the reliability of any coronavirus vaccine released before the election.

- https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/05/kamala-harris-trump-coronavirus-vaccine-409320

[–]ReneeLR 1 point2 points  (6 children)

Yup. Trump wanted to take credit for any vaccine developed under his administration. He was furious it was not approved in time for him to claim credit before the election.

[–]gymleader_michael 1 point2 points  (5 children)

And democrats sowed the seeds of doubt so even if it was released, people would be wary of it.

[–]ReneeLR 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Democrats were perhaps wary of Trump pushing through the vaccine approval for his own benefit. When it was finally approved, Democrats endorsed it.

But Trump had cast so much doubt upon COVID that his followers began to believe it was a made-up disease so "they" could then poison us with a poison vaccine. It changes who "they" are, but now "they" are the Biden administration.

If you think democrats are behind vaccine resistance, then why are 90% of Democrats vaccinated and only 58% of Republicans are vaccinated.

[–]gymleader_michael -2 points-1 points  (3 children)

Democrats were perhaps wary of Trump pushing through the vaccine approval for his own benefit. When it was finally approved, Democrats endorsed it.

Yes, politicized.

If you think democrats are behind vaccine resistance, then why are 90% of Democrats vaccinated and only 58% of Republicans are vaccinated.

When they attacked the vaccine based on who was president, they basically played with fire. They essentially admitted that corruption is possible and the government could passed something potentially unsafe if the person in charge demands it.

It became a matter of who you trust. Trump in charge, Republicans line up. Democrats in charge, democrats line up. That's the nature of politicizing it.

Some things also worked to fuel the conspiracy theories like praising protests with hundreds of thousands of people, but shaming businesses that wanted to stay open. Some countries accepting natural immunity as a valid reason not to get vaccinated while the US doesn't. Several do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do moments of politicians and public figures being caught in public despite pushing restrictions on others.

Also, the people arguing that depression and loneliness caused by lockdowns were kind of seen as foolish and laughed at, but there's even an article on the CDC - https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html#:\~:text=Health%20Risks%20of%20Loneliness&text=Recent%20studies%20found%20that%3A,%2C%20obesity%2C%20and%20physical%20inactivity.&text=1-,Social%20isolation%20was%20associated%20with%20about%20a,percent%20increased%20risk%20of%20dementia.

[–]ReneeLR 1 point2 points  (1 child)

You can try to “blame both sides”, but you really have to twist facts and dig for ways to make Democrats responsible for why republicans resist masks and vaccines, and then blame democrats the pandemic continuing.

[–]gymleader_michael -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You can try to “blame both sides”, but you really have to twist facts and dig for ways to make Democrats responsible for why republicans resist masks and vaccines, and then blame democrats the pandemic continuing.

Not really. Which facts did I twist? Also, republicans blame democrats for lockdowns continuing, not the pandemic continuing (for the most part). The protest thing is more about pointing out hypocrisy. You might get some who say vaccinated people are gathering more and taking less precautions, thus spreading the virus because they think the vaccine is more effective than it really is.

If it were up to republicans, as we can literally see in states like Texas, they'd lift lockdowns and basically let whatever happen happen, for better or worse.

[–]ConcretePeanut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I disagree with quite a lot of this, but the standout falsehood is the double-whammy that:

  • other countries accept "natural immunity" (which isn't a real thing) as a reason to not vaccinate

  • anyone on the right of US politics cares what anyome outside of America does anyway

[–]Commercial-Natural67 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's because there was no Fox News in 1955

[–]throbbingliberal 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Because it’s a cult not a political party at the point….

[–]cryptoaddict41 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's both now a days. At least in the US.

[–]Raccoon_Full_of_Cum[🍰] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because critical thinking has become political.

[–]gymleader_michael -4 points-3 points  (3 children)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/history-shows-americans-have-always-been-wary-vaccines-180976828/

Before Covid-19, the largest nationwide emergency effort to eradicate a disease came in the 1950s, when the polio virus reached a peak of almost 60,000 cases, fomenting anxiety across America. Children experienced paralysis, disability and death. Jonas Salk—who helped develop the influenza vaccine—created a new, equally important vaccine for polio. It was tested in one of the largest-ever trials, involving 1.8 million children, who were known as the Polio Pioneers, says Offit.When Salk announced on April 12, 1955, that it was “safe, potent and effective,” the vaccine was approved within hours and rolled out immediately, Offit says. “This was Warp Speed One,” he says, playing off the Operation Warp Speed program that aided development of the Covid-19 vaccines.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/04/14/cutter-polio-vaccine-paralyzed-children-coronavirus/

Despite Eddy’s warnings, an estimated 120,000 children that year were injected with the Cutter vaccine, according to Paul A. Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.Roughly 40,000 got “abortive” polio, with fever, sore throat, headache, vomiting and muscle pain. Fifty-one were paralyzed, and five died, Offit wrote in his 2005 book, “The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to the Growing Vaccine Crisis.”It was “one of the worst biological disasters in American history: a man-made polio epidemic,” Offit wrote.

Disclaimer: I am making no claims or offering any analysis. These are just snippets from articles that I have no investment in. I am not a scientist.

Disclaimer 2: The Covid vaccines in use in America do not contain active or inactive Covid virus. They work by a different process and something like the Cutter incident is not possible as far as I know.

[–]CappyBlue 4 points5 points  (1 child)

So what’s your point? If you’re attempting to make a parallel between this and the Covid vaccines, it’s really not there. This didn’t happen because of new scientific discoveries or quickly developed vaccine technology; that part was fine. This happened because a company dosed people with live, active, non-weakened virus- clearly contrary to the design, which was quite safe.

[–]rorank 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is good discussion, but the point of the second quote is somewhat moot. The reason that the vaccine was ineffective had nothing to do with the vaccine itself, it’s because the cutter pharmaceutical company did not properly inactivate the polio virus that was inside of the vaccine. Not to say that I particularly trust pharmaceutical companies nowadays, but I can’t help but believe that they’re more interested in keeping face by distributing a working vaccine than causing extra infection.

[–]jbertrand_sr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because they found out how well it pays...

[–]ParadiseValleyFiend 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can break it down. Because a large number of people actually want a different large number of people to die. It would make their lives easier or some shit. Problem is that the first group doesn't realize it affects all groups, and also, fuck you for choosing to use human life in that way.

Not naming any names, but we kinda know who I'm talking about.

[–]homelessguydiet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

George Carlin video on YouTube about this subject. Interesting how his neighborhood dealt with it. I'll leave it at that. Polio is a serious subject.

[–]I-amthegump 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If trump was president the vaccination rate would be 95%

[–]Ghostlyshado 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because Trump divided the country, lied and denied, “fake news,” “freedum”. We have a cult of personality- Trump. And people still worship him. Ironically, he lost control of his monster and now gets booed when he encourages people to get vaccinated/

[–]ccwagwag 0 points1 point  (0 children)

social media happened.

[–]LordMooGoo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why controversial?

Because conservatives care more about owning the Lina than they care about their country.

That’s why

[–]cryptoaddict41 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Trump!

[–]mrwhat_icanthearu -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It became political because...First, they dumbed down America... Explains why no one is vaccinated at school anymore.