Summary:

Vaccines have come a long way since people started figuring out the immunization process. In Eula Biss’s article “Sentimental Medicine”, she explains and teaches us the history of vaccines and why some people might worry about if they have certain risk factors.

Way back in the 1700’s, people started to piece together that the milkmaids who milked the cows infected with cowpox, developed blisters on their hands. Then they noticed that the women that were milking the cows, seemed to be immune to the smallpox virus and were safe around it. In fact, a father of two noticed that his wife and kids were starting to get sick from smallpox, and he decided to inject them with cowpox and make them immune. It worked. They were the first people to show immunity to the virus.

It wasnt until about 20 years later that a doctor decided to test this theory. It was then that the smallpox vaccine was invented, and they tried many different brutal and painful ways to get this stuff into the peoples systems. Some people that did’t want it, were forced too.

Vaccines have come a long way since those times. But still people are led by false beliefs and spread information that’s not always entirely true. The immense amount of research Biss put into this article is impressive. It shines a light on why we need to educate more people about these issues, and eliminate some of the fear.

More things I would like to know:

1. Why do people still get so upset at parents when they don’t vaccinate their children? If your child is vaccinated, is it really that much of a problem?
2. What are some more statistics? For example, how many mothers actually fully deny vaccines for their children? How many unvaccinated children actually contract those illnesses?
3. I want to know more about the research on what makes the vaccines different and more safe today compared too in the beginning? How much did they really change and/or fix?
4. Do people really care that much about something that has been around for decades and has been proven multiple times to do no harm to your children?
5. Why do/did people start thinking that vaccines can lead to autism and other disorders? Was it just because they needed something to blame other than themselves?