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In the 1930s, diphtheria toxoid was widely promoted in U.S. public health campaigns.

Left, photos of yelping children paired with lighthearted captions became a national news staple; the caption for this 1957 Denver Post photo quoted the girl saying, “Wow!” Below, the C. diphtheriae bacterium produces a toxin, an inactivated version of which becomes the toxoid used in the vaccine.