Grifters, cynics, and true believers: The family tree of vaccine opponents

8 hours ago

Stanley Plotkin, a 93-year-old vaccine developer, expresses regret over living long due to societal decline.
Anti-vaccine arguments have existed as long as vaccines, categorized in Thomas Levenson's book as from 'True Believers, Grifters, and Cynics.'
Vaccine opposition is labeled as wrong, bad, and intolerable, with historical roots in 18th-century smallpox inoculation backlash.
In the 18th-19th centuries, infectious diseases were a leading cause of death, with high child mortality rates skewing average lifespans.
Early smallpox inoculation campaigns in 1721 London and Boston faced criticism as morally wrong and blasphemous, viewed as defying divine will.

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