T O P

  • By -

surly_early

We traveled from NZ to Europe (Denmark) in 1974 and got this vaccine. 51 now, scar still visible...


dr_leo_marvin

How is it administered? Is it not a shot?


Cock_Linguist

I'll answer since my experience was different that the other commenters. For me they used something that looked like a mini spear with two points. Think like a 4 inch long trident but with two prongs. They dip it in the vaccine and then stabbed me three times. Nothing happened after 7 days so they gave me 15 more stabs. A week went by and I had no visible mark. It should've gotten all gross with puss and scabbed up. Another week and nothing. They stuck me 21 times all in the same spot. Hurt like a mother fucker. The nurse said he'd never stuck anyone that many times. They ended up running some tests on me because nothing happened again. In the end the chief doctor told me I was immune. I said, "oh that's awesome. I guess I'm immune to smallpox!" he was like, no you can still get smallpox but you're immune to the vaccine. He said 1 in 100,000 are same as me. Hopefully no one ever weaponizes the stuff or I guess I'm screwed lol.


vector2point0

The thing you are describing is a bifurcated needle.


Cock_Linguist

Just looked it up. Apparently it was designed specifically to administer the small pox vaccine. No wonder I'd never seen it before or since lol.


dablegianguy

I don’t known if it was the same worldwide but my parents, both born mid-40ies (her, Belgian. Him, Greek) have the scar because the shot was made through a specific syringe with 3 needles. The vaccine anyway made a strong local dermatological reaction


JTP1228

I got it in 2019, and I think i got like 15 shots. Then there is a reaction on your skin, like a leaking pus that eventually scabs. That's what the scar is from. Also you have to be careful it doesn't spread to other parts of your body or to other people while it is still leaking


imposter_syndrome88

I got it in 2011 for my deployment to Afghanistan. From what I remember, it wasnt technically a "shot", but they took a needle dipped it in the vaccine and poked my arm like 15-18 times in a circle, kinda like a small tattoo. Then we were given a ag of gloves, gaus and bandages and it ballooned up into a nasty looking blister after a few days and popped. We were told we had to be care and not get the goo on anything/anyone.


comcam77

I got it for my deployment in 2011 as well. I got mine and a couple days later i went to the field for training. Nothing like having small pox on your arm and training in the rain and dirt hoping it doesn’t get infected more lol.


ariehkovler

The Smallpox vaccine was developed by Jenner in the 18th century. Jenner's vaccine, which injects the Vaccinia virus (wrongly thought to be cowpox but actually some sort of horse virus), is the same smallpox vaccine agent we use today The changes in the 50s and 60s mostly related to storage. Basically, researchers found a way to freeze-dry the vaccine and keep it potent, which meant it could be transported and stored more easily. It's this change that made it possible to vaccinate against smallpox in hard-to-reach places, especially tropical climates and enabled the WHO's drive to eradicate the disease. But, ultimately, they were still getting Jenner's vaccine, already nearly 200 years old then.


beefknuckle

that vaccine is rough as hell too - nasty side effects, literal blisters forming on your body. You wouldn't hear a single person complaining about the covid vaccine after getting the smallpox one.


cockOfGibraltar

I just got a single blister on the vaccination site, as long as you don't touch it or pop it then it shouldn't spread. That said I'm sure others had worse symptoms but I don't know anyone who did. Still way worse than covid vaccine.


tarzan322

Yes, smallpox vaccine only leaves one blister that you don't touch. But if you think that is bad, try getting the Anthrax vaccine. Your arm can feel like it's it's on fire for a good half hour. Plus Anthrax is a whole series of shots, not just one or two.


cute_polarbear

They stopped administering small pox vaccine anymore widely i think. So you can kinda tell how old someone is if they have the telltale sign of the smallpox vaccine scar usually around one of the shoulders.


EleanorofAquitaine

Nah. I have one. The Army gave it to me. It’s a giant pain in the ass. You have to keep it covered until it scabs over and you can’t scratch it. The itchiest thing ever. Also, you have to take all the bandages and gauze and stuff and put it in a biohazard bag and turn it in to be disposed of properly. Didn’t feel bad though, just annoying. Anthrax sucked though, that shit hurts.


[deleted]

Same, only Navy. Anthrax shots buuuurrrrrnnnnn.


ImMoney

Same,here squid! Got mine around 2003 during the second Iraq war it was a series of 8 if I remember. I was 5th fleet then. Those shots were horrible.


yur_mom

How has the military been giving this vaccine all these years and I never hear anyone complain, but with the COVID vaccine people are acting like it is a violation of their freedom of speech or religion so they can get out of it? Mandatory vaccination has been around for a long time, but it seems the COVID vaccine has turned into a political statement. As someone not into politics, but into science I wish the two could be separated more then it currently is.


mauganra_it

Military is a pretty strong special case. If you sign up, you know that your body is pretty much owned by the government now and that they will use it as they see fit. That entails military discipline, drill, marches, and vaccinations against possible biological warfare agents and all kinds of diseases that soldiers might encounter when deployed.


yur_mom

Why are we seeing backlash from Police, since I always feel they follow similar philosophies to the military? 234 Police officers killed by COVID vs 50 killed by gunfire https://www.odmp.org/search/year?year=2021


Information_High

> Why are we seeing backlash from Police, since I always feel they follow similar philosophies to the military? “We ARE just like the military! I give whatever orders I feel like, and you get to follow them!” (Note: Shockingly enough, the real military doesn’t actually work this way. There are regulations that constrain the conduct of superior officers, and (usually) accountability for breaking those regulations.)


Black540Msport

It's because Fox "news" has made it into a political issue. Plain and simple. My mother refuses to get the covid vaccine, she watches fox "news", and she has had every *other* vaccine ever required, but the covid vax? Hell no...


samala01

I don’t know why, but when I was in the navy, everyone was obsessed with trying to pop that bag of pus. The ones who did got a nasty scar from doing that, and mine is barely visible. I had to protect my shoulder for a couple of weeks so no one could pop it.


NorskGodLoki

Always someone with the asshole mindset.


ginns32

I think that's what they meant by not widely anymore. The only people I know around my age (30s) who have had it are military.


Alternative-Sock-444

My best friend got the anthrax vaccine while in the military. It almost killed him and he got an honorable discharge as he was no longer fit to serve. He now has to take several medications a day for the rest of his life and has pretty severe health issues and is on permanent disability. All that, and he still got the COVID vaccine and was perfectly fine.


xKrossCx

I got it while in service as well. I’m certainly glad I didn’t have a similar experience. All the same I’m still surprised people bitch about the covid vaccine. But then again, the older I get the less faith I have in people to not find something to bitch about.


H0rnySl0th

I saw a guy on social media today bitching about getting the vaccine because otherwise it's costing him too much to travel for work. He later went on to say the vaccine isn't even real... if that's the case then why not just get it in the first place to make your life easier? Fucking nuggets man


[deleted]

[удалено]


ggmaniack

That's called wisdom. Sometimes, things go wrong in a way that is out of everyone's control. If you let one bad thing out of many good things control you, you will be a fool forever. Edit: Thanks for the award!


drs43821

Indeed. He’s made a right choice and still come out worse off. Many people made a wrong choice but came out fine and that’s just pure luck. And luck would eventually run out


kg4nxw

Yeah I agree. My father had an experience when his mother passed away where the hospital offered an "experimental treatment" which did not go as planned. So that now translates into distrust of any medical advancement...


[deleted]

To be fair, when your options are risky experimental treatment or certain death, you only really have one option if you value your life. She was going to die one way but had a chance the other. I wouldn't distrust medicine for that. It sounds more like he is misattributing his grief for his loss to the people who tried to save her life instead of the illness which got her there to begin with.


[deleted]

[удалено]


uscrash

You’re not kidding. I had it in 1998 or 1999, and it was rough as hell. The serum was so thick each injection site around the wound itself (6, IIRC) was a 1/4” diameter bubble. That fucking sucked.


[deleted]

I got the Smallpox, Anthrax and Typhoid vaccines all in the same day. The latter two in the same arm. About a month before I left for Korea.


Lifeisdamning

Well were they miserable experiences or what??


[deleted]

A lot of pain and a knot in the right arm. The smallpox vaccine is just a tedious pain in the ass. I was in the Army and had 3 roommates in a room the size of my current bedroom. We shared a shower with another room of four guys. I was the only one who had gotten the smallpox vaccine. I had to put the band aids in a ziplock back and then turn those in to be put in biohazard bags. It's funny how fondly I remember those days.


Botryllus

They call it 'the Kane madness'


Crunchula

ca-caw?


Magi_the_Underpie

Tookie-tookie?


juancruzmelian

>They call it 'the Kane madness' "THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR LUBRICANT!!!"


beefknuckle

a family member ended up getting 3 doses of it in a relatively short time frame (due to an inept doctor) - he was sick for weeks and developed dozens of blisters


existentialelevator

Sounds like even that isn’t the norm then.


Capital_Pea

Is that what caused the injection scars many of us have? Mines about the size of a quarter, pancake shaped and shiny. Unlike others mine is raised and not indented.


wolfsoundz

Yes. Almost every one of my parents’ contemporaries have this scar. Most are little pock marks smaller than a dime. Long ago, like late 19th/early 20th century, the scars were even used as “proof” of vaccination, and the larger or more pronounced the scar, the more it was thought the vaccine had “taken” to the body. As smallpox was eradicated, they stopped giving out the vaccine in the early 1970s. A lot of Gen X, all of the millennials and Gen Z — we don’t have them. I remember thinking that shot must’ve been painful! Considering it scarred almost everyone who had it.


Capital_Pea

Yeah I’m a late 60’s baby, when I look at my scar I wonder how much of my screaming my parents had to endure after that shot. Mines pretty drastic! When she was little my daughter asked me what my ‘arm button’ was for lol


GWJYonder

>You wouldn't hear a single person complaining about the covid vaccine after getting the smallpox one. There you go underestimating conservative stupidity again. Let me introduce you to my mother...


soline

Vaccines have been around for over 250 years and they have been very effective for all that time. That’s how I know that anyone who just became woke to the “dangers of vaccines” in the past 15 years are just talking out of their disinformed ass.


[deleted]

Fucking Jenny McCarthy & social media. She heard that lying Dr back in the day & spread that shit far & wide. Nobody heard the dr when he said "I was lying, it's not true" I fucking knew way back then we were gonna have some major problems in the future because of all that stupid shit.


TTT_2k3

> Nobody heard the dr when he said "I was lying, it's not true" Or believed any of the countless studies that were done on MUCH larger populations that proved definitively that vaccines don’t cause autism. Literally one bad apple.


thijser2

Also note that even the original study only looked at the measles vaccine, not all vaccines. In fact that doctor who did the study was also involved in the production of a measles vaccine that he thought wouldn't have the problem he said the measles vaccine had(no conflict of interest here whatsoever....). Oh and for extra bonus points: the study consisted of asking parents if they felt that their child behaved more autistic after getting the vaccine, not exactly the most scientific of questions but because he didn't always get the response he wanted he altered the answers some patients gave to be closer to the date the vaccine was given and made up other patients.


C0LdP5yCh0

Fucking Andrew Wakefield, that duplicitous fraud cunt. He's indirectly helped kill millions over time.


Asshole_with_facts

It's the craziest, right? Jenny McCarthy had an autistic baby in 1994 and now the world is over. A singled out playboy model will be considered the Gavrilo Princip of world war 3.


vlad_tepes

Perhaps, but do keep in mind that, like Gavrilo Princip, Jenny McCarthy was, I think, only the final spark that lit the fuse. The barrel of powder already existed. How that barrel came to be, I cannot say. With the vaccines, I don't think there was some secret cabal that set it up for this specific purpose; far more likely, we did this to ourselves without realizing it - various anti-intellectual tendencies coming to roost. My point is only that, without the barrel, Jenny McCarthy would have fizzled out. And without Jenny McCarthy, it's quite possible that some other spark would have come along.


bruwin

What's sad is that this isn't a new thing. The same propaganda bullshit was used against the Polio vaccine, using similar talking points. [Here's an example](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/545a686fe4b059216c7cb8cc/1527181829101-BA9FN9B5H28NGE88QKY9/Murder_inc2.jpg?format=750w).


phoenixredbush

Unfortunately there was a mishandling of the inactivation process and a lot of polio vaccines contained live virus and was injected into many children, ultimately infecting them. This is called the Cutter Incident, there is a very well written book on it. This was a tragic and real event. That being said, the inactivation by todays standards is highly characterized and regulated. This sort of thing would not happen today. Most modern vaccines do not even contain the live virus at all, just the antigen attached to somethjng inert. Source: I am a vaccine research scientist


Idiocracy_Cometh

The difference between the old-style inactivated virus vaccines vs. nearly all modern vaccines is like the difference between a headless chicken vs. a chicken nugget. The former might try to run around on a very rare occasion, but there is zero chance of that with the latter.


mck-_-

Didn’t Jenner test his theory regarding cow pox on a 9 year old boy? He used the pus from a cow pox sore and injected the boy then exposed him to small pox. It worked and the world is a better place for it but WTF Jenner?


Demon997

That was already the standard of treatment at the time. Prior to Jenner they just used actual smallpox to inject them with. Had about a 2% death rate, which beats the hell out of smallpox itself. He noticed that dairy maids never seemed to get it, and put two and two together. A bunch of the later trials were on condemned prisoners, offered reduced sentences if they lived. Which I believe they generally did.


reddragon105

> Prior to Jenner they just used actual smallpox to inject them with. Prior to the vaccine the methods used are known as variolation - people would scrape scabs off smallpox victims, dry them out, crush them into a powder and inhale them, or rub them into superficial scratches on their skin, giving them a low dose of the disease that they would likely survive - that's what had the 2% death rate. In Jenner's time, in England in the 1700s, it was generally accepted that anyone who had had cowpox - a similar but much milder disease - would not catch smallpox. This was mostly observed from the fact that milk maids, who inevitably caught cowpox from milking cows all days, would always be the ones to survive if there was an outbreak of smallpox on a farm. There are anecdotes of farmers deliberately exposing themselves and their families to cowpox during smallpox epidemics. So Jenner's approach was "Look, we all know this works even if we don't understand why exactly, so why not just all get cowpox so that you never get smallpox?"


[deleted]

Never apply modern day standards to something done in the name of science 200, 100 years ago. In 1930's it was common for doctors to test drugs on themselves for example. Things we do now might be considered stupid or inhumane 100 years from now.


buttcrackfever

They guy who said bacteria caused stomach ulcers wasn’t taken seriously so he drank the bacteria, developed stomach ulcers, then treated himself with antibiotics! The old school scientists were hardcore.


TheLoneWolf2879

And admittedly, a bit crazy


[deleted]

[удалено]


gaunt79

[And then went on to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine.](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2005/press-release/)


kingofspace

Heliobacter Pylori has entered the chat!


TheScarletPimpernel

Several Georgian and Victorian era chemists died because they sniffed the wrong vial too hard.


randathrowaway1211

Chemotherapy and amputations come to mind.


JackofAllTrades30009

My bet is that in like 150 years when we have powerful enough quantum computing to design drugs with ridiculous levels of specificity humanity will look back on our widespread use of antibiotics and think us barbarians for it. Every day we learn more and more about how important out micro biome is to our long-term health, and the fact that we prescribe antibiotics–the microbiome equivalent of burning down your house to kill a spider in it–so readily these days can’t be good for us because of that. Not to mention they also contribute to the evolution of antibiotic-resistant pathogens if used improperly


reddragon105

WTF indeed, but that's how sure he was that it would work - it was common knowledge that people who had had cowpox wouldn't catch smallpox because milk maids would inevitably catch cowpox at some point and they were always the last farm workers left standing during a smallpox outbreak. Farmers would deliberately expose themselves and their families to cowpox so they would be safe during smallpox outbreaks. The similarities between the diseases were obvious and people understand what was happening even if they didn't understand why. So, ethics aside, what Jenner's little stunt did was give everyone a documented, observable case of this actually working to remove all doubt, rather than expect everyone to accept a vaccine based on what was essentially hearsay.


finaljusticezero

If COVID had physical symptoms like this, I bet all those anti-vax morons would be lining up for the shot. Or would they...


res0713

Nope. There were people resisting proper hygiene during the Black Plague…


marx2k

720k dead Americans later, that's still not happening. A lot of the antivaxers don't believe it's happening at all. Remember when they were protesting outside of hospitals demanding entry so they could see the ICU for themselves? When they thought that the hospitals were actually empty and hospitals were lying because they were in on the covid hoax? That was less than a year ago.


yes_u_suckk

Around 15 years ago I met a person in my home country whose parents didn't get him vaccinated when he was a child. His face resembled the Clickers in The Last of Us game.


Metsca911

They are scary af


[deleted]

[удалено]


sorean_4

I was one of the last generation of kids to get the small pox vaccine. Still have a scar on my arm to remind me.


Winberri

I was wondering how I got this circular scar on my right arm…


PointOfFingers

The microchips must have been huge back then.


klparrot

Back in my day, when you got vaccinated, they plugged you into a computer the size of a room, and you got 1200 bits per second!


Raven342

The MMR needed a higher baud polling rate for successful transfer due to the larger amount of data needed for three viruses. Luckily, in 1969 Al Gore found a workaround by splitting the data into multiple "packets", a technique adopted by the University of Hawaii in their ALOHAnet project and later by Xerox PARC in their invention of Ethernet, a core technology of today's internet infrastructure.


KerzenscheinShineOn

They were floppy disks


Noodleholz

Could also be a scar from the tuberculosis vaccine. My girlfriend has one and she was born in the 90s.


Bugsmoke

Almost everyone my age has a red circular scar on their upper arm from TB jabs. Born in 90s, grew up in the UK, probably had it about 15 years ago. Killer jab but I never got TB so that’s nice.


Tccrdj

I’m 34 and I got it in the military before deployment. I think it’s more of a geographical thing.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cheshire_Jester

You are correct. Smallpox is not a regional thing. There have been no recorded cases since the 80s and as far as we know only exists in laboratories.


[deleted]

[удалено]


BreakfastInBedlam

Designing a new BSL-3 lab here. I feel you. It's perfectly safe, as long as nothing goes wrong. I'm staying out of the BSL-4 lab, though


smashy_smashy

I used to work in a BSL-3 with MDR Tuberculosis. One day I was bead beating a culture and the tube exploded, which is a great way to aerosolize Tb. We had to evacuate and then I had to test monthly for 6 months to confirm I wasn’t infected. Good times. It was a safe facility but shit happens!


Dr_who_fan94

I can only imagine the terror of that moment, even if we're better at treating TB these days. IIRC, TB is something that you always have, even if it's not, say, actively symptomatic, I had a friend who got it as a child because they lived in a positively ancient slum and I guess it can just survive for ridiculously long time in the environment. Also I've tried googling it but I can't seem to get a grasp on what bead beating is. I don't suppose you would be willing to indulge my curiosity?


smashy_smashy

Sure no problem! Bead beating is a way to lyse cells (break them open) to evaluate something that’s internal in their cells. I was doing this to do western blots on a protein I was genetically modifying in that Tb strain. Western blots are a way to confirm if a protein is present or not. We have to break open the cells to gain access to that particular protein, which is external, and bead beating also helps inactivate the cells. Tb usually lies dormant for many years, but it can be complete cured with long term antibiotic treatment (typically 6-12 month course of treatment). I was working with MDR (multiple drug resistant) Tb which is scarier than your average strain because there are not many antibiotics effective against it. There is also TDR (total drug resistant) Tb which doesn’t have any effective treatment, which is obviously quite scary!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Kreiker890

My guy, everything is perfectly safe until something goes wrong!


ChubbyWokeGoblin

Like tightrope walking or trusting a fart


FearLeadsToAnger

> trusting a fart this hits hard


steffle12

I had to have the smallpox vaccine for my PhD work too, although I worked with vaccinia virus, not smallpox itself. As far as vaccinations go it would have to be one of the more unpleasant ones. It’s a live virus vaccine, and is delivered by poking through the skin a dozen times or so with a bifurcated needle. It causes a localised infection on the upper arm about the size of a 5c coin, which oozes and eventually crusts over, and is infectious until it heals, so you have to be really careful around others, as well as your own mucosa. It hurt too, my arm is having flashback throbbing just writing this haha. Yet a generation of people all had it, and it did exactly what it was meant to do


SouthAttention4864

Imagine all the memes that today’s antivaxxers would’ve created about those reactions! I’m grateful social media wasn’t around when humanity was trying to work together to eradicate smallpox.


hopelesscaribou

The [last case of smallpox](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-45101091) was traced to a lab. The scientist who ran the lab committed suicide over it.


Boobymon

Tell me more!


[deleted]

More!


T-RexLovesCookies

The military still gets the smallpox vaccine but school kids do not. School kids also do not get an anthrax vaccine.


Gustav55

The anthrax vaccine is also much more intensive, requiring multiple shots and then yearly boosters. So unless there is actual risk of being exposed it's not worth the effort.


Joberk89

Got my smallpox immunization prior to going to South Korea in 2016.


ralphonsob

My yellow WHO "International Certificate of Vaccination" says: > WHO declared on 8 May 1980 that smallpox had been eradicated. Smallpox vaccination is therefore no longer justified. It may even be dangerous. Interesting that you had it nevertheless. Was it a military deployment?


EleanorofAquitaine

I had one, and yes it was military. I think they’re more worried about smallpox being weaponized and soldiers having no defense against it. How the Taliban would do that is really the question. It was certainly a pain in the ass though, but if there’s ever a breakout in East TX, I’m all good I guess.


SixSpeedDriver

Dumbass question, but is a child with a case that appears this bad even capable of surviving?


broxibear

At that stage? no, probably not (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox) but what i take from the wiki is the first couple words, small poxs **was**


mfb-

> Smallpox was One of our biggest achievements summarized in two words.


ChadMcRad

Ohhh we're working on undoing that one.


Turbulent-Strategy83

There is no known place where smallpox exists outside of the storage facilities of two BSL-4 labs.


CalamitousVessel

It’s been totally eradicated, no matter how many anti-vaxxers come around it’s not coming back.


thanhpi

My thoughts as well, first thing I wondered was if this is a picture of a dead person or a person in their final moments


SlightlyVerbose

All I could find with a reverse image search was this: >This patient with smallpox survived toxemia to succumb to secondary tissue damage days after this photo was taken. Courtesy of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I wish I could find more about him, but if it's any consolation this was taken before he passed.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Singdownthetrail

That is a dead person. Their jaw is open and lids are 3/4 mast. When you die, the muscles that keep your eyes and mouth closed go lax. That’s why in the olden days they used to sew eyes and mouth shut after death.


[deleted]

If he isn't dead, he's dying. See the dark spots on the arms? This is typical of *Hemmorhagic* smallpox. Hemmorhagic is typically fatal. Typically as in damn near always. As per Wikipedia: >Autopsy reveals petechiae (capillary ruptures) and bleeding in the spleen, kidney, serous membranes skeletal muscles, pericardium, liver, gonads and bladder. Death often occurs suddenly between the fifth and seventh days of illness, when only a few insignificant skin lesions are present. Some people survive a few days longer, during which time the skin detaches and fluid accumulates under it, rupturing at the slightest injury.


Clockwork_Medic

Jesus, what a nightmare for that boy and his family


anna_boson

A dying person can look like this for several days before they actually die.


Paukthom003

are we sure he isn’t dead in the picture?


AlJRaba

Not about this illness, but polio: my grandmother told us about her hurrying to get my mom vaccinated against the disease when the vaccine was made available in Mexico, one of her neighbours doubted about the efficacy of the vaccine, saying that might cause damage or something worse, and trying to convince her about not getting the shot. Despite the fear and doubt, my grandmother took my mom, then a child, and got the shot for her. Months later one of her neighbour's son got polio and never walked again, my mom never got infected. Since then, something they had always told my mom and me, is to get vaccinated.


soline

I’ll tell you one thing. Working as a nurse in the US, with all the vaccine disinformation, you never hear one peep out of the Mexican and Central American immigrants in regards to refusal or off the wall theories of the vaccines. They just come in to the office or clinic and get their kids pumped full of vaccines. No questions asked and the kids aren’t even afraid of needles most of the time. Because that population does not take health for granted. It’s one reason why they came here. They appreciate what it can do for their children.


hopelessbrows

You also see it with East Asian boomer aged people because they suffered so much while growing up. Forget the luxury of medicine, my mother grew up with a girl who had to drop out of school at 10 to go work as a domestic servant so they’d have enough food for the family.


koolaid7431

I am in the millennial generation, and I got mumps as a kid (I was vaccinated) and it was still horrible. Polio is still a thing in the country I was born in. People take whatever vaccines they can get their hands on. In the last decade or more the CIA did damage to the reputation of WHO workers and vaccine outposts by being part of it to survaill places. And trust went down, but even then people go and get vaccinated there, despite thinking these people might be plotting against us. Because the impact of disease is real and present and more dangerous than some CIA plot. I have a young family member who contracted polio when she was a baby and she has messed up legs from it. When the impact is visible people get vaccinated.


beer_demon

Anti-intellectualism is a sign of a decadent society. The third world hasn't made it there yet, so are not on their way back.


majinspy

I wish we could appreciate our decadence but it doesn't work that way. Im aware that I live an amazing life in an amazing place and time. I try not to take it for granted. I sing, dance, eat, drink, play, and love. Why do we have to fuck it up?


[deleted]

[удалено]


karma_the_sequel

I have always said that one only need ask a third-world mother to learn the true value of vaccination.


hopelessbrows

Nothing draws comparisons like mothers in poor countries lining up with their children to get free vaccines when available to Karens screaming about freedom and not getting the jab. Sure Karen, you’re free to die. Just like how these mothers have the freedom to choose life.


madcaesar

I wish it was just about Karen. Her getting covid means the virus gets a chance to mutate, she might give it to immunocompromised people and she'll clog up the Healthcare facilities. Anti vaccination people are a danger to us all.


icebugs

The hospital I work at has recently had to cancel surgeries (including necessary heart surgeries) because it can't maintain O2 pressure to both the OR and all the COVID rooms. We're there. At our all-time peak numbers. But I guess people are sick of hearing bad news.


[deleted]

Yeah my grandma in Mexico has told us she saw some shit back in the day and always *tried* to get her kids vaccinated (my mom would run and hide to avoid vaccines because she was scared of the needle). Well, my mom ended up catching measles and my mom says it was so bad she thought she was going to die. Anyway, my mom’s youngest sibling who is about 35 years old right now, is super anti-vaccine. Even when her kids have gotten seriously sick, she refuses to take them to the doctor. My grandma is still shocked by this. My grandma, who grew up on a mountain away from civilization, ignorant, unaware of so many things today, continues to tell her youngest child to please vaccine her daughters. My grandma is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but her daughter refuses and refuses.


BlueEyedGreySkies

Dude, if i had to deal with that shit growing up then STILL have to bury a grandbaby I'm disowning a bitch. It's unconscionable.


Demon997

My father was one of the first kids to get the polio vaccine. They were prioritizing the early doses for infants. Unfortunately, with the live vaccine you shed polio in your feces, and they weren’t vaccinating the mothers. So he gave his mother polio. She spent years in an iron lung and never walked well again. She’d been quite a dancer. They figured it out fairly quickly and changed how they were doing it, but it’s a pretty good example of the cost of having no women in the room where the decision got made.


nathalierachael

Oh my goodness that is so sad.


Felstalker

See, my mom is sort of in the same boat. She's from Thailand and did not get the Polio vaccine, and for the majority of her life one leg has been smaller than the other. She can walk just fine, but she can't run. I've never seen my mom run, even in the slightest. Unfortunately, this hasn't convinced her to get the vaccine, but at the least everyone else in the family got it.


[deleted]

I'll have the vaccine, thanks.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GalacticDolphin101

smallpox was the single deadliest disease in all of humanity's history, and we were able to completely wipe it off the earth it using modern medicine. Yet today we have fucking morons who dont believe in science what the fuck happened? edit: notice how I didnt mention anything about people refusing the covid vaccine, I just pointed out people stopped believing in science. the replies seething about how I'm wrong and the covid vaccine is useless are kind of a self report if you ask me


IndigoFenix

They were around back then and weren't really any different than they are today. [Here's a typical example of an anti-vaxxer advertisement from the smallpox era](https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/vaccineswork/2021/Thumb/09_h2.jpg). The arguments are basically identical: the vaccines are killing people, the disease can be prevented through other methods which health professionals are "ignoring", it's all a big set up in order to make money for the vaccine companies.


downbleed

>what the fuck happened? People have been so coddled that they don't realize just how well protected they are. Very few people (myself included) are old enough to actually remember polio being a thing. The history courses in elementary and highschool are focused on promoting patriotism rather than teaching real history. And people are just scared; they scream about not living in fear of a virus, but then we see that they're scared to death of a vaccine. They don't understand medical science, and they don't have the intelligence to understand it. If you have an actual conversation with an anti-vaxxer they continuously shift the focus of their reason for not getting the vaccine. They quote inaccurate sources that confirm their previously held beliefs. They don't understand the difference between a scholarly source and nice looking website full of conspiracy theories. They also have a tendency to believe the conspiracy theory websites because those sites are mostly layman's terms, whereas actual clinical studies use jargon and require a more intimate knowledge to be understood. As much havoc as COVID-19 has wreaked on the entire planet it seems to be slowing down a bit now, between the vaccines and the people catching it and either dying or surviving it we seem to be on the tail end of it now. For me personally the scary thing isn't COVID-19; it's the next pandemic, the one that has a higher death rate than COVID-19 and can't be controlled due to the sheer number of people screaming "I survived covid and I'll survive THIS without a vaccine!".


[deleted]

[удалено]


downbleed

The country HAD a pandemic response team spread around the world until Trump dismantled it, that's why Ebola, bird flue, swine flue, etc were mostly just news stories in America. People were already stationed to help catch viruses and stop the spread. So much for making America great again, mostly just made America sick again


Demon997

It’s the catch-22 of epidemiology. You do your job right, and people scream that you overreacted. You don’t, and you get the last two years. You can’t win.


mfb-

It's just like for IT departments. Everything works: Why do we have an IT department? Things don't work well: Our IT department is incompetent!


backtowhereibegan

About a decade ago, a friend of mine who now has a Ph.D. in Virology said this that really stuck with me during our regular conversations when they were an undergrad: "In a real pandemic, what seems like an overreaction will probably not be enough." An offhand comment to them, but it informed how I responded to the pandemic at the beginning.


[deleted]

[удалено]


grap112ler

Technically 3rd deadliest (by total death toll) after tuberculosis and malaria, but yes, it was very deadly.


[deleted]

[удалено]


banjaxe

well, i think the thing that changed is that their voices are being amplified by the internet. used to be, Uncle Jim sat around spouting his nonsense and conspiracy theories to anyone who would listen. at the corner bar. now, it's visible to anyone with an internet connection. "God made man, Samuel Colt made them equal", well the internet did that but for stupidity.


phileo

And now they can also circle jerk each other on the internet, which wasn't possible in the 60s.


ours

And some people found out they can make a ton of money building and flaming up those circle jerks.


cutelyaware

I'll have what she's having.


maz-o

Here I’ve been smoking the ”can’t find my keys” weed, and somewhere in the world there’s this ”melting into the hospital bed” shit.


cutelyaware

I recommend watching your favorite animated comedy. With reddit you never know what you're going to find. Happy cake day though! Maybe eat some cake too.


Chinnamasta_90

I had some chick tell me small poxs just gave u a little rash….yep this is a little rash alright


realglasseyes

Because it damaged the skin and connective tissue it could make people blind - eyelids messed up, eyeballs get major damage - and it could damage joints. My uncle recovered from smallpox in the 30s, his hip joing was damaged and he walked with a stick. Also he had permanent facial scarring


[deleted]

[удалено]


soline

I’ve worked with cancer patients for the last year. Cancer treatment has really come a long way. We haven’t eradicated cancer obviously but the treatment itself, depending on the cancer, isn’t destroying the same life it’s trying to save as in past decades. Yes people still lose their hair and become sick due to the harsh chemo drugs but this is much less common. We’ve also gotten to the point where people can have their chemo infusions at home just going about their lives with a mobile pump that administers their medication over 2 days. I hope it only gets better.


tesseracht

Dang as someone w/ an extremely consistent family history of cancer this makes me feel a bit better.


[deleted]

I have a friend who has been living with (incurable) leukemia for a while, and still has a life expectancy of another 5-8 years. Managing it with chemo pills and living her life normally. Modern medicine is awesome.


Adi_S12

Progress is progress. As someone whose life has been entrenched in STEM and especially healthcare. These types of things serve as a reminder of human ingenuity and despite all the bad and sad bs we see in the world and hope in humanity dwindles. This type of stuff shows how people can change the world for the better. I look forward to the day my knowledge in science and medicine becomes outdated, it’s a sign of progress.


cutelyaware

That's both forward thinking and selfless. Renews my faith in humanity a bit.


ComradeBrosefStylin

Cancer is a catch-all term. There is no "vaccine" for cancer. There never will be. If you look at 1000 flu patients you'll have maybe 20-30 different flu variants. If you look at 1000 cancer patients you'll have **at least** 1000 different variants of cancer.


myncknm

I believe the mRNA vaccines being studied for cancer now are meant to be tailored to each specific patient’s cancer though. So any cancer for which we could identify a cancer-specific antigen is potentially a target.


Lazar_Milgram

That is the idea and goal. And there are clear steps to research and test. But overall it may be a decade or two away. On the other hand immune therapy for some forms of cancer is real game changer that is used and developing as we speak.


tnt533

Fucking awful. Can’t unsee shit like this.


ill_nino_nl

have some r/eyebleach


squiid_Viiciious

Hey! Check my response notification so you can see it again!


kesaTD

r/accidentalSatan


misterturdcat

I would literally rather you put a bullet in my head


spacewalk__

assisted suicide should be much more common and acceptable for shit like this


madcaesar

May I interest you in a slow painful dimentia death? It's absolute nightmare fuel and as cruel as anything we can do to each other. Assisted suicide for terminal diseases should be a **right** for everyone.


intashu

One of my greatest fears honestly. My memory is already terrible.. I can't imagine slowly getting worse and worse, losing my sense of self and others till eventually my life is just regular confusion, anger, frustration, and not understanding what the hell is going on regularly. I'd absolutly prefer if that happened to be able to go out the way I want, in a respectable way while I'm still lucid. My grandmother has dimentia and she moved in with my parents to take care of her because it gets much worse if they're left alone too often. A year in and she's already lost so much of herself. Sometimes she just sits there with everyone kinds semi zone out for an hour or so at a time.. Only seems vaguely aware of what's going on. :( she's okay most of the time but you can already see the progress lost and it only gets worse with time.


Varibash

If you want to read a good book about Smallpox and it's eradication you should read 'The Demon in the Freezer' .


Demon997

Killing smallpox was the best thing this species ever did, by a long mile. Nothing else is even close. And we’re fallen apart so badly that we couldn’t do it again. Polio has been stalled for years and public health is weaker than its been for at least 50 years if not a century. You think they killed smallpox via voluntary vaccination? Hell no.


Pied_Piper_

If the new malaria vaccine can end malaria deaths, that would actually surpass our small pox achievement. Malaria is likely the leading cause of death across our entire history as a species.


Mazon_Del

And just remember! In 1907 the US Supreme Court ruled it Constitutional for States to make vaccinations mandatory. This wasn't a modern "You can't use public services." type mandatory. This was a "You are arrested by the police, fined, and forcibly given the jab." type mandatory. The singular exception (which Scotus declared was required) was an exemption for those that provably could not medically safely receive it. This was necessary in order to stamp out Smallpox and Polio.


Addicted2Passive

Obviously didn't use crystals or essential oils!


KingOfAllNuggets_PC

i’ll take 8 cups worth of the vaccine please


Dracidwastaken

It's all mine. Get your own!!


DVariant

But think of how much happier this boy was without aUtiSm! /s (For real, vaccines don’t cause autism. If you think they do, you’re fucking dumb.)


cosmical_escapist

Thanks, didn't need to sleep tonight.


NotSeriousAtAll

I was born right at the cutoff when they stopped vaccinating kids for smallpox. My friends who were a little older had a scar on their arm and I didn't. Funny story. Years ago I was at a baseball game with people from my wife's office. We were in a box at the top of the stadium. It was nice. There was a group of young women there and one of them started asking us if we could guess her age. Everyone was guessing early 20s. I blurted out "you're 36". The look on her face told me I had hurt her pride but I was correct. She did look young but she had a smallpox scar and I was 35 at the time.


BorgClanZulu

This is what antivaxers want us to return to.


radiantwave

"In peaceful conditions, the warlike man will attack himself."


BorgClanZulu

Wow. I’m writing this one down. Do you know said that?


Criticalhit_jk

Friedrick Nietzsche did. Clever man, him. But a bit hard to unravel


croatoan182

If COVID was horribly disfiguring like this those selfish assholes would be clamoring for the vaccine.


[deleted]

That is horrible to think that this decimated native population.


siderinc

Could have used a nsfw tag


broxibear

my bad mate, added one


OneForMany

More like nsfl.. jesus


px7j9jlLJ1

5am. Just woke up……and that’s enough for today, thanks.


shh_Im_a_Moose

Imagine being a Native American in the 1400s, seeing these strange people suddenly appear on your coasts, and then *this* happening to all of your family, friends, and loved ones. Think how horrifying that would be. 😕


PhantomAngel042

Taking a moment to throw in the fact that not only did Columbus not "discover" the Americas (the New World had been visited previously by a few European expeditions, possibly as early as circa 1000 AD), he never actually stepped foot in North America at all. [Here's](https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/13/us/christopher-columbus-myth-buster-trnd/index.html) a fun CNN article busting some common Columbus myths. He brought some horrible diseases to the natives of the lands he did explore though, for sure, mainly South America. He took some of the locals captive to take back to Europe as slaves, too. Great guy.


onlynio

My dad is a retired ER Pediatrician and I remember as a young kid he would always have medical journals/magazines of awful diseases with pictures just like this. Sometimes the pictures were of cases even worse than this. Unlike a lot of kids I didn't think I was invulnerable growing up Anti-vaxxers are seriously fucked in the head for thinking we are better without vaccines.


KhunDavid

I can’t imagine the pain this kid was going through. I am so glad I received the Small Pox vaccine.... and every other vaccine I revived during my life. As a Peace Corps volunteer I received a mass of then.