Compared to Polio and Smallpox, America ’s COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign Is Going Great

The agonizingly slow upward creep of the U.S. COVID vaccination rate, coupled with the emergence of the Omicron variant, has observers speaking in tones of gloom. What is wrong with people who refuse to get the shots? Some point to diseases such as smallpox and polio as evidence of a less-broken time when people trusted authorities and believed more strongly in science. But as historians of medicine, we find the despair about vaccine hesitancy misplaced. By historical standards, the U.S. COVID-19 vaccination campaign has already been an astonishing success. In the past, fearsome diseases have been brought to heel even in the face of vaccine resistance, and with lower vaccination rates than public health officials had hoped to achieve. Moreover, vaccines alone have rarely curtailed or eliminated infectious diseases. Other measures, such as faster and more-accessible testing, and support for infected individuals who must quarantine, are also essential. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Anti-inoculation activism in this country is older than both vaccination and the country itself. The first inoculation campaigns in America date to the early 18th century, when members of the political and social elite began to promote variolation—the term “vaccination” didn’t exist yet—against smallpox. Although smallpox was a widespread and frightening disease, many resisted variolation, which meant inserting material from a smallpox sufferer’s pu...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news