HPV vaccine FTW!
Vaccination is one of the great triumphs of humanity over infectious disease. Smallpox was such a plague that George Washington mandated inoculation for all Continental soldiers in 1777. Prior to the polio vaccine, most Americans knew a friend or relative who contracted polio; today, it’s virtually unheard of, just like mumps and whooping cough.
The COVID vaccines, particularly the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer, are a triumph of genetic engineering. If you’ve been vaccinated, it will almost certainly keep you out of the ED and the morgue.
Sadly, there are some politicians and media personalities who lie about vaccines. RFK, Jr has made his brand as an anti-vaxxer. Tens of millions have been vaccinated against COVID—where are the tens of millions of vaccine deaths? Does anyone seriously believe that deaths on such a scale could be covered up by Fauci and Biden? Get a grip!
The success of HPV vaccines hasn’t been attacked by the American right-wing extremists, perhaps because it’s mostly female lives that have been saved:
“Cervical cancers are 87 lower among women who were part of the first mass vaccination program in the UK against the human papillomavirus (HPV), compared to previous generations at the same age. The finding, announced in The Lancet, was expected in the light of evidence vaccines control the cancer’s predecessors. Nevertheless, with thousands of lives on the line, it’s important to be sure, and the results are at the upper end of expectations. The announcement also confirms how much damage was done by anti-vaccination campaigns that hindered programs in some countries.”
HPV vaccines a huge success
HPV vaccines have been attacked by christofascists, on the grounds that, by mitigating danger from sex, they encourage promiscuity.
@Rick,
Yes. Misogyny is at the core of Christianity, beginning with Adam and Eve.
“christofascists”
When I find such prejudiced language, I immediately dismiss what is written.
Why?
cf. Mike Johnson, Speaker
And, let’s not forget that all religions are evil.
“Evil” is a bit harsh. Don’t forget the Quakers, who eschew all violence, and the Arminians, who, in opposition to the counter-remonstrants, taught that god deliberately made the trinity obscure because he wanted to see a hundred flowers bloom. It’s true that any religion can be recruited to violence, from Yehuda Macabee’s gang that murdered every educated Jew in Judea, to the conquistadores in america; but the horrific violence in the bible is only retrospective, not explicitly prescriptive. It is only the Quran and Hadith that demand that all believers conquer and rule everyone else, and that any blasphemy or apostasy must be met by murder.
Because … of course you do …
Interesting, George Washington mandated vaccination for Smallpox in 1777 and Jenner invented Smallpox vaccine utilising cowpox in…1796…
@Norman,
The inoculation mandated by Washington was obviously not the Jenner cowpox vaccine, then. Inoculation using pus from a pustule had been known long before Jenner’s vaccine:
“Smallpox inoculation was a simple procedure: a doctor removed pus from an active pustule of an infected person, and then inserted that pus into the skin of a non-infected person via a small incision. The insertion of the pus resulted in the inoculated person contracting smallpox. Despite being infected, the inoculated person usually experienced only mild symptoms that were not life threatening. Inoculation had been practiced for centuries in parts of Asia and northeastern Africa before being introduced to Europe, and eventually the North American colonies.”
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/smallpox-inoculation-revolutionary-war.htm#:~:text=Smallpox%20inoculation%20was%20a%20simple,the%20inoculated%20person%20contracting%20smallpox.
@Norman,
Just to be clear, you seem to have confused inoculation with vaccination.
Vaccination is what Jenner invented. Indeed, the words “vaccination” and “vaccine” are derived from the Latin “vacca,” meaning cow, in recognition of the cowpox virus used in the Jenner invention.
Interesting
@Bill,
The form of inoculation mandated by Washington has also been called “variolation,” named after Variola, the smallpox virus.
Thanks for the extra explanation. Got a shot in my eye for edema and wrinkle.