I am old enough to remember the polio epidemics of the 1950s:
- each one resulting in a number of deaths, and leaving many, many more children and young persons cruelly crippled.
I particularly remember the last such epidemic, which occured during the summer of 1961. That one was stopped dead in its tracks by means of a mass-immunisation program, using the newly developed Sabin vaccine. Furthermore , in this country, the last death from polio just happened to have occurred in that very same year,1961. Co-incidence? I don't think so!
That isn't all, either - the list could go on and on. For example:
(i) Typhoid. In the South African War (1899 - 1902) this disease killed more soldiers than died in the fighting. By the time WWI broke out, a vaccine had been developed, and was in widespread use by the British army. During that war, typhoid deaths were negligible, despite the very same insanitary conditions prevailing on the battlefields.
(ii) Tetanus. During WWII, all service personnel in the armies of Britain and its Commonwealth were immunised for tetanus, whereas those of Germany were not. That fact was reflected in the contrasting death rates due to tetanus between the two armies.
(iii) Smallpox. This disease had been completely eradicated by the late 1970s - thanks entirely to the smallpox vaccine.
How could a person possibly knock the benefits of vaccination? It is beyond me!
Bill.
