Most people alive today don’t remember the polio years. We couldn’t go to swimming pools or movie theaters. Our parents spent lots of money on renting houses far away from the centers of contagion during the dangerous months of the year. They worried about every little stiff neck or headache we had.
They weren’t brainwashed, as you pointed out. They were overjoyed that they could stop worrying about it at last.
I know there are differences, but people were not as paranoid then. They were grateful.
Don’t forget that the covid pandemic came upon us as a monster that we had zero experience with, possibly a lab-caused virus that escaped, the material of science-fiction nightmares. We had never had to deal with any such thing before. The vaccine developers and those who promoted the vaccine were brave and heroic and saved many lives.
OMG!
I recall thinking even before Covid was a ‘big thing’ in the ‘news’, that we were probably going to address it as the equivalent of War.
. The vaccine developers and those who promoted the vaccine were brave and heroic and saved many lives.....
imo that remains to be seem