I like a further way to put it into perspective and to show how far as global society we haven fallen since:
The WHO launched its vaccination campaign against smallpox in 1958 and it lastet until 1977. So during the height of the cold war the West, the Sovjets, China and all of the Third world came together, to get everyone vaccinated. While pointing nuclear weapons at each other they all still understood what a shitty disease that is and worked together on this issue, because they all saw it as a responsibilty to rid the world of that disease.
And they fucking did it. They vaccinated almost everyone in the world so the disease is considered extinct. Today we get Karen instead who’d rather have half the elderly in her community die, than wear a mask while shopping.
Well, right now I regret wearing a mask during covid because the elders are getting us all the shit right now with authoritarian liberalism and anti-climate protests.
If there is a smallpox outbreak, I don’t think it’ll end the same as the covid pandemic. Covid mostly kills the old, frail, and genetically unfortunate. Long covid is still unsolved, that’s most people’s biggest risk right now.
Smallpox has ravaged cities and ended civilizations. Some variants have a 1% fatality rate, but many others go up to 50% or even 90-100% in extreme cases. Furthermore, you can’t pretend not to have smallpox. You will have visible signs, and a significant amount of victims will be disfigured or even disabled for life.
The elimination of diseases like smallpox is nothing short of a scientific miracle that has saved hundreds of millions of lives. I’m afraid it’ll be undermined by idiots who grew up in a world where stubbing your toe or hitting your head against a cupboard will never be anything close a brush with death, but with antibiotic overuse and the increasing amount of crazy people refusing vaccines, we may end up fall back to a (hopefully brief) period of death and despair.
I like a further way to put it into perspective and to show how far as global society we haven fallen since:
The WHO launched its vaccination campaign against smallpox in 1958 and it lastet until 1977. So during the height of the cold war the West, the Sovjets, China and all of the Third world came together, to get everyone vaccinated. While pointing nuclear weapons at each other they all still understood what a shitty disease that is and worked together on this issue, because they all saw it as a responsibilty to rid the world of that disease.
And they fucking did it. They vaccinated almost everyone in the world so the disease is considered extinct. Today we get Karen instead who’d rather have half the elderly in her community die, than wear a mask while shopping.
Well, right now I regret wearing a mask during covid because the elders are getting us all the shit right now with authoritarian liberalism and anti-climate protests.
If there is a smallpox outbreak, I don’t think it’ll end the same as the covid pandemic. Covid mostly kills the old, frail, and genetically unfortunate. Long covid is still unsolved, that’s most people’s biggest risk right now.
Smallpox has ravaged cities and ended civilizations. Some variants have a 1% fatality rate, but many others go up to 50% or even 90-100% in extreme cases. Furthermore, you can’t pretend not to have smallpox. You will have visible signs, and a significant amount of victims will be disfigured or even disabled for life.
The elimination of diseases like smallpox is nothing short of a scientific miracle that has saved hundreds of millions of lives. I’m afraid it’ll be undermined by idiots who grew up in a world where stubbing your toe or hitting your head against a cupboard will never be anything close a brush with death, but with antibiotic overuse and the increasing amount of crazy people refusing vaccines, we may end up fall back to a (hopefully brief) period of death and despair.