Since 1796, human life expectancy has doubled

With a Bachelor of Science in engineering, I admire the scientific method which has enabled advancements to improve the human condition. Therefore, I appreciate the medical science investigation that went into the development of all vaccines for the past 225 years.

In the early 1700s, Massachusetts suffered a serious outbreak of smallpox from cargo ships. The only prevention in Western Civilization for centuries was quarantine. Cotton Mather asked an enslaved person about smallpox in Africa. Onesimus explained that the use of variolation in Africa (and Asia) prevented smallpox outbreaks.

Variolation used infectious material from smallpox patients to prevent smallpox in healthy people. A desperate Cotton Mather then introduced variolation in Massachusetts which reduced smallpox death from 1 in 7 without to 1 in 40 for smallpox victims who received variolation.

When the British brought a smallpox epidemic to the colonies during the Revolutionary War, General George Washington embraced the science of variolation to protect his limited troops. Despite opposition from the Continental Congress, Washington’s wise insistence on inoculating all of his nonimmune troops prevented the decimation of his Army and allowed them to continue fighting which enabled the birth of a self-governed nation.

Edward Jenner introduced the smallpox vaccine almost 20 years later in 1796 which was many times more effective than variolation and created a game-changing method of fighting deadly diseases which, over time, helped to more than double human life expectancy! The life expectancy of a newborn in 1800 was 35, and for a 65-year-old, it was 10. In large part due to vaccinations, life expectancy for a newborn rose steadily to 81 in 2019 and to 22 for a 65-year-old. Many founding fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, traveled great distances to be vaccinated.

Most of us have a smallpox vaccination mark on our arms, and the children of the Greatest Generation remember our parents’ fears of polio and other diseases and them taking us to the doctor for our shots. Thanks to International Rotary and other philanthropic efforts to vaccinate 3rd world children, polio is nearly eradicated from the globe. Most American children still receive vaccinations for multiple diseases, and when I was in Navy boot camp, we walked a gauntlet to receive multiple vaccines in both arms.

Today’s mass vaccine reluctance is a shocking new phenomenon after over two centuries of public appreciation of this medical miracle. Vaccines may be the victim of their own success. Americans grew up with high uptake of vaccines, and therefore, we did not witness the horror of vaccine-preventable diseases that have devastated other countries. Vaccine rejection has a terrible cost. For a non-COVID example, due to vaccines, measles has become very rare, but recent vaccine refusals have led to terrible measles outbreaks in some American communities.

Early this year, three carefully researched vaccines were approved for use in the U.S. that have proven to be highly safe and effective to protect people from COVID-19. Like Thomas Jefferson, many people, including me, traveled a distance to be among the first to be vaccinated. Unfortunately, the prestige of science, in general, took an unprecedented political hit during the previous federal administration. Vaccination science in particular took political, demographic, and multiple media hits which resulted in too many unvaccinated people exacerbating and prolonging the impact of COVID-19.

Medical professionals and organizations nationally and locally have been urgently advocating for people to get vaccinated because they report a very high percentage of deaths and hospitalizations due to the COVID-19 delta variant in unvaccinated people and because they see that COVID-19 is now becoming a disease of the young. Health care professionals also warn that up to 1 in 4 patients experience post-COVID symptoms including reproductive organ compromises.

What would the great General George Washington say to the people of his nation if he saw how divided we are over the proven science of vaccination which is many times more effective than the variolation he ordered to help his army survive smallpox and win the war of independence? Furthermore, what would the Greatest Generation, who sacrificed relentlessly for a common cause to prevail over multiple enemies in WWII, say to us about not coming together as a nation now to fight the common pandemic foe?