Once upon a time
It was the seventeen thirties when the first major smallpox epidemic struck the Cherokee. It was a time of much terror and grief for our people, a deadly disease for which we had neither medicine or immunity stalked our people like a demon conjured from the very depths of the nether world, without conscience and without mercy. There was no vaccine back then. There have been plenty of epidemics over the course of human history. Some very deadly, some less so. Some due to normal microbe evolution, others exacerbated by human stupidity. Of course, the arrogance and stupidity of human beings is a common denominator in many, if not most, of the major tragedies which have threatened the species.
Sometime around 1796, Dr. Ed
,” ward Jenner developed a vaccine against the dreaded demon known as smallpox. Considering the number of people killed and disfigured around the world up to that time, one would think Dr. Jenner would have been hailed as a hero. Or not.
Far from being hailed as a hero and a visionary doctor, he was instead attacked, vilified, persecuted, and burned in effigy. Sounds mighty familiar. We often consider our modern selves to be far more rational and intelligent than our poorly educated forbears, with their quaint superstitions and irrational beliefs. We have powerful instruments with which we peer into the dark recesses of space, and others with which we observe the most private moments of microbes. In the centuries since Dr. Jenner’s discovery, we have eliminated smallpox, and rendered many other diseases much less deadly. All thanks to vaccines.
With more than three hundred years of accumulated study, one would think that vaccines would not be a controversial issue. One can visit any old graveyard and see the graves of countless babies and young children who died of disease outbreaks before vaccines were commonly available.
The facts are open and obvious, and all point to one conclusion, vaccines work. And yet, children still die from preventable diseases.
Of all God’s creatures, humans have the most capacity for ignorance. And for self centered “leaders” more than willing to cater to ignorance and superstition for their own ends. Some of the most virulent criticism leveled towards Dr. Jenner and his vaccine came from preachers who called his vaccine “un-Christian,” and an interference with “God’s will.” Many poor misguided folks followed along, we can only wonder how many died, or had to watch their children die because they listened to a preacher instead of a doctor. And the same situation continues today.
Conspiracy theories, irrational dogmas, and irrational superstitions hold back human progress and are without doubt responsible for countless deaths and unspeakable suffering.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Once upon a time there was a deadly disease which killed many, many people around the world. There was no cure and no prevention. The disease was not well understood. And then a vaccine was developed.
A vaccine which could prevent the disease and the deaths associated with it. Unfortunately, many folks caught in the trap of superstition and having been lied to by their leaders, refused the medicine and many more died unnecessarily. That was three hundred years … oh wait, that is now.
We can cure and prevent disease, we have the medicines, we have the vaccines, we have the treatments, but as a famous comedian once said, “You can’t fix stupid.”
Arrogant and willful ignorance has killed more people than all the diseases combined, and it will kill many more. Too bad we don’t have a vaccine for that.