SCnEsCE AsD nts ACCEttAsCE gAvE us rAsy roxE yEAxs

From 1900 until 2000, the life expectancy of the average American increased 30 years. Let that sink in. It is a mind-boggling number never accomplished before and possibly never to be reached again.

And the primary reason it happened was that medicine became more scientific and discovered “germ theory,” the roles of bacteria and viruses in so many diseases.

To avoid sickness, clean water, controlled sanitation and education about handwashing were vigorously undertaken.

To deal with bacterial-based diseases, drugs like penicillin were employed. And to thwart viruses, vaccinations, which prepare the immune system to fight these microscopic invaders, gained worldwide usage. Measles, typhoid, smallpox, mumps, rubella and the terrifying disease of my youth — polio — have been nearly eliminated from the earth. Influenza, which is a very tricky, mutating virus, has significantly decreased.

Currently we face the pandemic of COVID-19, which we did not have time to examine before it hit. But several vaccines are now available. Diseases don’t care whether you are liberal or conservative, follow particular spiritual beliefs, dislike “Big Pharma” or don’t like the government telling you what to do.

Medical technology is now offering us a “gift” of incredible value. And the more people who take it, the better for all. If you are in any way hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine, please think about how modern medicine has benefitted us all.

T. John Hughes,