All That Was Old Is New Again, Vaccine Nation Dept. 0
History professor Kyle Harper points out that irrationality, fear mongering, and falsehoods are not unprecedented in the face of health crises. A snippet:
Private interests that shamelessly peddle misinformation? The history of British mercantilists lobbying against quarantine sounds perfectly contemporary. Resistance to medical science? Since the introduction of smallpox inoculation and then vaccination, a weird alliance of religious militancy and pseudoscience has worked to stoke fears and doubts about our best tools to protect human health. Livestock dewormer? Just a fresh take on the venerable tradition of quackery. It’s hard to be original in the annals of human folly.