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Church of Jeff
Church of Jeff
@jeffowski@mastodon.world  路  activity timestamp 2 months ago

#Vaccines #science #Victorian #1800s #19thCentury #medicine #germtheory #loss #Grief #death

aylwyyn228

My PhD research was focused on grief in the 19th
century. I can tell you exactly how much they
would have wanted modern medicine. I've read so
many accounts of people writing about how they
would have done anything to save their children,
their spouses, their siblings.

Mothers and fathers who sat up all night praying
that their baby would see the morning. People
giving huge sums of money to quack doctors in
the hope that they could save their wives.
Mothers writing about how they would do
anything to not leave their children alone. One
father after the loss of his fifth child in a month
retelling how he had wanted to go outside and
scream, but that he was too tired, so he lay down
on the dining room floor instead.

After I read all that it feels like an insult that
anyone in the modern world would turn down
vaccines, when for thousands of years countless
people would have given everything they had for
the opportunity to save their loved ones.
aylwyyn228 My PhD research was focused on grief in the 19th century. I can tell you exactly how much they would have wanted modern medicine. I've read so many accounts of people writing about how they would have done anything to save their children, their spouses, their siblings. Mothers and fathers who sat up all night praying that their baby would see the morning. People giving huge sums of money to quack doctors in the hope that they could save their wives. Mothers writing about how they would do anything to not leave their children alone. One father after the loss of his fifth child in a month retelling how he had wanted to go outside and scream, but that he was too tired, so he lay down on the dining room floor instead. After I read all that it feels like an insult that anyone in the modern world would turn down vaccines, when for thousands of years countless people would have given everything they had for the opportunity to save their loved ones.
aylwyyn228 My PhD research was focused on grief in the 19th century. I can tell you exactly how much they would have wanted modern medicine. I've read so many accounts of people writing about how they would have done anything to save their children, their spouses, their siblings. Mothers and fathers who sat up all night praying that their baby would see the morning. People giving huge sums of money to quack doctors in the hope that they could save their wives. Mothers writing about how they would do anything to not leave their children alone. One father after the loss of his fifth child in a month retelling how he had wanted to go outside and scream, but that he was too tired, so he lay down on the dining room floor instead. After I read all that it feels like an insult that anyone in the modern world would turn down vaccines, when for thousands of years countless people would have given everything they had for the opportunity to save their loved ones.
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AskPippa馃嚚馃嚘
AskPippa馃嚚馃嚘
@AskPippa@c.im replied  路  activity timestamp 2 months ago

@jeffowski Before vaccines, death from diphtheria was so common, there were some specialized cemeteries, such the one in this photo: the entrance to a cemetery called the Diphtheria Cemetery-- in Jackson County Wisconsin.

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*sparkling anxiety* Evelyn
*sparkling anxiety* Evelyn
@Gorfram@beige.party replied  路  activity timestamp 2 months ago

@jeffowski
In Philadelphia, in 1936, my great-grandfather died of the flu. A few days later, his wife died of the same flu. A week later, their son died, of the flu. Another week, and their daughter, my grandmother, died, of that same flu.

They are all buried, side by side, in a neat little row.

I get my flu shot every year.

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