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Given the current attitudes towards vaccines and individual rights, it's doubtful we'll be able to have another achievement like the elimination of smallpox and
by yibg 5y ago
Given the current attitudes towards vaccines and individual rights, it's doubtful we'll be able to have another achievement like the elimination of smallpox and polio.
What happened in the last few decades? Increased mistrust of government? Shift in the views of individualism? Or is my assessment wrong and if something like smallpox popped up today we'd be able to work together to eradicate it?
- silent_cal 5y agoThe vaccines don't prevent transmission and had less than a year of testing. It's perfectly rational to be "hesitant" about them.
- lp0_on_fire 5y agocovid and smallpox are two very different beasts.
- michannne 5y agoI think it's because you don't understand quite how powerful the smallpox and polio vaccines are. I can walk around wherever I want with 0 concern of transmitting some dormant smallpox or polio. I don't see why people are comparing the COVID vaccine to either of these as you can still transmit COVID. In an absolute sense, all the COVID vaccine does is make your life more bearable, but those around you still have a non-zero chance of getting it from you. When you take that into account I start to wonder why some are so obsessed with treating it like the smallpox and polio vaccines when it is anything but.