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Simon Schama’s “Foreign Bodies” Tracks the History of Vaccines
The Economist ^ | Sep 6th 2023

Posted on 09/08/2023 3:15:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway

From smallpox to covid-19, a new book offers a fascinating story of vaccines’ spread

The first recorded vaccine—for smallpox—was administered by Edward Jenner, an English doctor, in 1796 to an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Jenner (pictured) took fluid from the lesions of a dairymaid who had become infected with cowpox and used it to inoculate Phipps against cowpox and smallpox.

That people could become immune to diseases after being exposed to them had been known for more than a thousand years before Jenner carried out his experiments. But the idea that people could be purposely infected as a way to ward off future illness, though ancient, took a surprisingly long time to spread and become accepted around the world.

(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Health/Medicine; History
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 09/08/2023 3:15:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
His book on the French Revolution, Citizens, is a masterpiece.
2 posted on 09/08/2023 3:17:21 PM PDT by Publius
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To: Publius

He is a good writer. But I think he’s on the Left. Any decent book about vaccines would have to emphasize that the COVID jab does NOT fit the traditional definition of vaccine. If his book doesn’t point that out, then he’s pushing the Narrative.


3 posted on 09/08/2023 3:27:03 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (They say "Our Democracy" but they mean Cosa Nostra.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

The economist as a source evaluation is quite far to the left.


4 posted on 09/08/2023 3:46:35 PM PDT by gas_dr (Conditions of Socratic debate: Intelligence, Candor, and Good Will)
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To: ClearCase_guy

ClearCase_guy wrote: “He is a good writer. But I think he’s on the Left. Any decent book about vaccines would have to emphasize that the COVID jab does NOT fit the traditional definition of vaccine. If his book doesn’t point that out, then he’s pushing the Narrative.”

No vaccine fit the ‘traditional definition of vaccines’. The term “vaccine” also got a makeover.

The CDC’s definition changed from “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease” to the current “a preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.”

No vaccines on record have ever provided immunity to a diseases since all vaccines had breakthrough infections. Therefore it was incorrect to say they provided immunity.

The only ones pushing a narrative are the anti-vaxxers.


5 posted on 09/08/2023 4:21:09 PM PDT by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
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To: Publius
This conflicts in timing (1796) with the well known story of Benjamin Franklin being vaccinated against smallpox via the same method, but deciding against having it done to his small son. The boy later died of smallpox and Franklin regretted his decision for the rest of his life. So that type of crude vaccination existed decades before 1796.

The mother of his other son, who grew up to be governor of New Jersey and a loyalist during the revolution, was not Franklin's wife. It was never recorded who the mother was, but that son was raised in Franklin's household. He was the little boy pictured in the famous painting of the kite/key/lightning experiment.

6 posted on 09/08/2023 4:35:36 PM PDT by katana
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To: katana

... and George Washington issued an order that his troops be vaccinated. So 1796 is a little late to the party.


7 posted on 09/08/2023 4:48:04 PM PDT by Chad N. Freud (FR is the modern equivalent of the Committees of Correspondence. Let other analogies arise.)
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To: DugwayDuke

I’ve never gotten the measles or small pox or polio, thanks to the immunizations I received before the age of 8. I’ll be 70 next month and I’ve never had to have a yearly booster for any of those. Now vaxxers are trying to portray quarterly boosters as being perfectly normal. It’s insanity!


8 posted on 09/08/2023 7:08:07 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Trump 2024!)
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To: Prince of Space

Prince of Space wrote: “I’ve never gotten the measles or small pox or polio, thanks to the immunizations I received before the age of 8. I’ll be 70 next month and I’ve never had to have a yearly booster for any of those. Now vaxxers are trying to portray quarterly boosters as being perfectly normal. It’s insanity!”

It’s not ‘insanity’. It’s insanity to compare vaccinations for polio and small pox which are stable with vaccinations for diseases that aren’t stable like COVID and the Flu.

BTW, did you know that the survival rate for polio is the same as the rate for COVID?


9 posted on 09/09/2023 5:32:25 AM PDT by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
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