Reminder that in the UK in 1900, before mass vaccination for childhood diseases began, 20% of all babies died before their fifth birthday (from diseases we currently vaccinate them against).
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@cstross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Alexander_(polio_survivor)
Considering he died not that long ago means there are polio survivors probably still floating around, so it isn’t that long ago polio was killing people. I also remember my mom talking about her mom taking them and standing in line for the vaccine when it came out because she knew how deadly it was.
Yes, there are polio survivors “still floating around” — here's one I know:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/171663427-limp-forward
(Thank you Libo for being an inspiring colleague in several presentations and projects.)
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RE: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren/115963873612884664
Reminder that in the UK in 1900, before mass vaccination for childhood diseases began, 20% of all babies died before their fifth birthday (from diseases we currently vaccinate them against).
RFK jr's appointee wants to kill roughly 20% of all newborn Americans "to improve the breed" or something.
(Not including those paralysed for life by polio.)
And his "vaccines cause autism" nonsense is basically old folklore about changelings in a new guise.
https://sunkencastles.com/2025/10/27/a-long-history-of-ableism-the-changeling-narrative/
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@cstross I am not a medical professional, nor do I wish to play devil's advocate, but common sense tells us that at the beginning of the 20th century, hygiene standards and knowledge of medicines were much lower, so it is difficult to assess the impact of one factor or another on child mortality.
@gwenh Not just that: overcrowding was rife to an extent that's largely forgotten today. 20 people sleeping in the same room.
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@cstross That means they’ll need even more white babies. Don’t these people talk to each other?
@cstross reminds me of the project Lebensborn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebensborn @bart
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@cstross If I may be allowed a small rant.
What shits me is that this nonsense doesn't stay in the US. These folk fund anti-vax messaging across the world.
So, a sole health worker in remote Australia has to combat targeted anti-vax propoganda funded by US organisations, and increasingly by the US government. Some US organisations simply pay elders to betray their communities' best interests. The local clinic nurse doesn't always succeed in winning against the powerful, and in some remote communities old diseases have come back.
These communicable diseases make unusable the sole medical clinic for hundreds of kilometres.
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RE: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren/115963873612884664
Reminder that in the UK in 1900, before mass vaccination for childhood diseases began, 20% of all babies died before their fifth birthday (from diseases we currently vaccinate them against).
RFK jr's appointee wants to kill roughly 20% of all newborn Americans "to improve the breed" or something.
(Not including those paralysed for life by polio.)
@cstross RFK jr, like Wakefield, is a poxbottle!
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P pearl22@troet.cafe shared this topic
