There have always been people who lived into old age, into their 80's and 90's. More of us do so today, thanks to medical science.
Vaccination for smallpox, has been around since the 1700s. A doctor realized that milkmaids who had cowpox, a related and much less harmful disease, didn't contract smallpox. The original vaccine was exposure to a live virus. It was later understood that the immune system developed a response that allows the body to rapidly fight off infection from viruses that it has been exposed to.
For much of the past 100+ years, vaccines have been developed with either dead viruses, or weakened viruses. Immune responses tend to weaken over time, and viruses tend to mutate over time, explaining why it is recommended that certain vaccines be repeated.
While vaccines may not be 100% effective, and a very small percentage of people have adverse reactions to vaccines, the benefits far outweigh the risks for most of us.
I have an appointment for vaccine updates in a couple of weeks. The Condo provides space for an onsite vaccination clinic each fall.
The secrets to a longer life. Have access to safe water, wash your hands often, avoid getting kicked in the head by a mule or crushed by a tree, choose doctors with clean hands, and talk to your doctors about what is best for you.
There was a typhoid epidemic in the US in the 30s. It hit the small mountain community in SW Virginia my father grew up in very hard. 7 children in the school he went to died; there were only about 80 kids attending. My grandfather was a licensed midwife, and began telling people whose outhouses were contaminating streams people drank from that they had to move and rebuild their privies. If they didn't, he'd knock them down. He got away with it because he said the state had a program demanding it and (we think mostly) because he was 6'7" and weighed 250 lbs - all of it muscle. Turns out there was no state program. We think the state just sent information on how to keep water clean to stop the spread of typhoid and he took it on himself to make it so. My father died 30 years after my grandfather. But man who'd been a classmate of my father's told me at my Dad's funeral "I remember your granddaddy. He was a good man, but he was death on them privies!"
ReplyDeleteA true story of how one person can make a difference in a community.
DeleteAnd don’t listen to RFK Jr.
ReplyDeleteHe's nuts.
DeleteAustralian gold miners in the mid 1800s learnt it was better to drink beer or whisky over fresh water from creeks. Vaccinations have made a wonderful change to the world. It is a mystery why any sensible person would doubt them.
ReplyDeleteBeer was a common daily drink in Europe before safe water supplies and improved sanitation.
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